BBC One orders comedy drama from Emma Kennedy
BBC One has commissioned The Kennedys, a brand new comedy drama series from writer, actor and Celebrity MasterChef 2012 winner Emma Kennedy.
Inspired by her best-selling memoir of childhood camping trips, The Tent, The Bucket and Me, the series will focus on the Kennedy family, living on a Stevenage housing estate in the 1970s.
The IT Crowd star Katherine Parkinson has been cast as Emma's mother, Brenda, in the six-part series, whilst Christine Gernon - whose credits include Goodness Gracious Me, One Foot In The Grave, Hebburn and Up The Women - will direct.
Emma Kennedy has already written the series, which will be filmed from February 2015 and will be broadcast later in the year.
Speaking to British Comedy Guide, Emma said today: "It's going to be set on the estate I grew up on in Stevenage, all the episodes are based on real events. It's adapted from The Tent, The Bucket and Me but we'll be staying mostly at home with the odd holiday thrown in - so in that sense it's not a straight up down adaptation of the book. I've changed it so it can be a returning series. And because of that I've been able to use stories that I couldn't use in the book. So it's like a bonus book companion.
"I'm thrilled we can finally take it to screen. I've got an amazing team to work with. On a sad note, Brenda, my mum, who Katherine is playing, died three weeks before we filmed the pilot so she never got to see it. She actually died the night Katherine won her BAFTA, which in an odd way, felt sort of comforting. Brenda lives on."
Emma added: "Mum made me read her the scripts as she lay on her death bed (this is absolutely true) and I got to a bit where a character is mentioned in a slightly unflattering light. She stopped me and said 'You have to change that name. Your father still sees her in Sainsbury's.'"
A vocal fan of Danish drama series The Killing (Forbrydelsen), Kennedy also promises "some very exciting Danish guest stars" in one episode of the show.
Emma Kennedy's past credits include Katy Brand's Big Ass Show, The Smoking Room and This Is Jinsy. She voices lead character Becky Butters in CBBC's Strange Hill High, a series for which she also writes, and is contributing to the revival of hit 1980s cartoon series Danger Mouse, which is expected to also be on air by late Spring.
Kennedy is also the writer of the childrens' book series Wilma Tenderfoot. Her next novel, Shoes For Anthony, is due for publication on Thursday 7th May 2015.
Here is a character profile of Emma's Strange Hill High character, Becky Butters.