Kieran Hodgson and Stevie Martin star in lifeguards pilot
- Taster episodes of Lifeguards, a sitcom about an under-employed seaside safety team, have been filmed
- Kieran Hodgson plays scatter-brained recent graduate and Stevie Martin is lifelong overachiever Jess
- Creators James Kayler and Steve Lawrence are now preparing to show the footage to commissioners
Taster episodes of Lifeguards, a sitcom about a dysfunctional seaside safety team, have been filmed. British Comedy Guide can reveal comic actors Kieran Hodgson and Stevie Martin are in the lead roles.
The show has been created by James Kayler and Steve Lawrence. Kayler is a comedy director who has worked on formats including Comic Relief and Catherine Tate's forthcoming Netflix series Hard Cell, whilst Lawrence has written for various BBC projects, with his valentine's day sketch scoring over 3 million views online.
Kayler has directed three taster episodes of Lifeguards via production company Burning Reel.
The creators explain: "We shot our beach based pilot at the end of last year. It's currently in the edit and we're taking it to channels over the next few months with the aim of getting a commission in the near future."
Lifeguards is described as "a workplace sitcom about a group of under-employed lifeguards protecting a deeply unpopular beach in the South of England."
The plot details add: "Centred on scatter-brained fun boy Drew, anxiety ridden over thinker Jess and their boss the sometimes dangerously enthusiastic Sally, our team must contend with odd bod dog walkers, teenagers looking for somewhere to drink cheap cider and rules that mean they have to wear shorts in winter, if they're going to survive."
Three-time Edinburgh Comedy Award nominee Kieran Hodgson plays Drew, the recent graduate character who has failed at multiple previous jobs. Meanwhile sketch star Stevie Martin has taken on the role of Jess, the "lifelong overachiever stuck in an underachiever's life."
The pilot episodes, which are each 7 minutes long, also feature Thanyia Moore as Sally and Amy Spinks as Alison.
Kayler and Lawrence say: "It was great to work with such a talented cast and crew and we're excited for channels and streamers to see what we've done, we'd also like to get back to the beach so we can prove to the crew we did see a mermaid and it wasn't just 'an attractive piece of wood with a bit of seaweed on top'."