Joanna Page to star in new Sky1 school comedy
News has leaked out today that Gavin & Stacey star Joanna Page (pictured) has been cast in Gates, a new sitcom for Sky1.
The series, which has been in development for a number of years, focuses on the rivalries between a group of parents who meet at the school gates after having dropped their children off.
Tom Ellis, who is probably best known to comedy fans as Gary from the hit BBC sitcom Miranda, will also star in the show. He let slip news about the project when talking to The Daily Telegraph, saying: "It's sort of based on a family and I play the dad."
Gates is currently filming in Enfield, North London. A notable point is that French & Saunders and Absolutely Fabulous star Jennifer Saunders] is the show's Script Editor. The programme has been developed using a writing team, a model more familiar to American television than British comedy. Writers known to be working on the show include Andrew Collins (Not Going Out), Richard Preddy (Green Wing), Dan Sefton (Holby City) and Abigail Wilson (Jam & Jerusalem).
The show is being overseen by Laurence Bowen from production company Feelgood Fiction. Previous credits include 2006 sitcom Suburban Shootout for Channel 5.
Gates has not yet officially been announced by Sky so the details above have not been confirmed, however an official announcement is expected shortly. Overseen by ex-BBC executive Lucy Lumsden, the satellite broadcaster is currently in the process of investing a considerable budget into broadcast comedy in an attempt to create some new hit home-grown comedy shows.
Other comedy shows in development at Sky include SPY, a sitcom starring Robert Lindsay; The Café, a comedy starring The Royle Family's Ralf Little; and a surreal sitcom called This Is Jinsy. Trollied, a supermarket set sitcom starring Jane Horrocks and Mark Addy, starts on Sky1 at the end of July.