New animated sitcom commissioned by Channel 4
Channel 4 has announced a new cartoon commission, Happy Families. Written by Jack and Harry Williams, the series is intended to rival successful long-running animated sitcoms from the USA.
It focuses on the life of an 'average' family, consisting of put-upon Edgar who works for his self-obsessed father-in-law Ken Lavender; his house-proud wife Wendy; and their three very different children: freaky weirdo Dusty; amiable idiot Jason; and highly strung 'emo' Eve.
The show will feature Fonejacker's Kayvan Novak, Simon Greenall (I'm Alan Partridge), Rosie Cavaliero, Lucy Montgomery and Darren Boyd in the main roles. The series has been designed by artist Alex Scarfe, son of political cartoonist Gerald Scarfe, and will be animated by Los Angeles-based studio Rough Draft, which counts Futurama and The Simpsons Movie amongst its past credits.
Channel 4 commissioner Nerys Evans said of the show: "The combination of slick American animation with quintessentially British humour gives Happy Families a really distinctive feel. Not only is the dialogue laugh-out-loud funny, it's packed with fantastic celebrity cameos and satirical swipes at every turn."
The Williams brothers have commented: "Channel 4 commissioning an animation on this scale shows just how committed they are to bringing something new to the comedy schedules. We're delighted to be working with Shane [Allen, Head of Comedy] and Nerys on this fun and ambitious project. They're a rare breed of comedy commissioner - in that they have a sense of humour."
Happy Families was also the title of a 1985 BBC comedy serial by Ben Elton, starring Jennifer Saunders as various members of the Fuddle family, brought together after 20 years apart by a dying grandmother.
The new series, Channel 4's first animated sitcom since 2005's Bromwell High, will be produced by Squirrelman Productions.