Fergus Craig brings Martin Fishback character to BBC Two
- Fergus Craig has filmed a BBC pilot featuring his middle class dad character, Martin Fishback
- The pilot revolves around the Fishback family as a now redundant Martin decides to become a novelist
- Martin Fishback will be broadcast on BBC Two on 9th February at 10:15pm
BBC Two has a pilot starring Fergus Craig as a tactless middle class dad who has ambitions to become a crime writer.
The sketch and sitcom actor has been playing the character in various online videos, and written a novel as the character.
The BBC explains: "Comedy dad character, Martin Fishback, was created by comedian Fergus Craig and quickly gained both a huge following and critical acclaim on social media. Fergus has since gone on to have success with the publication of his first novel, detective crime-thriller parody Once Upon A Crime, written in Martin Fishback's voice.
"The pilot revolves around the Fishback family as Martin decides to become a successful novelist following his redundancy after 25 years in the toothpaste industry.
"Martin settles on writing a detective crime-thriller after he's put on the spot by an incompetent police officer and heads into his home town of Exeter, AKA 'the crime capital of East Devon', for inspiration.
"Meanwhile, Martin's son Marcus returns home from university to introduce his girlfriend to his parents. Socially inept Martin is keen to impress with his writing but, what would have just been a typically awkward family dinner, descends into drama worthy of any award-winning detective novel."
Martin Fishback will be broadcast on BBC Two on 9th February at 10:15pm, with Craig joined on screen by Samantha Spiro, Nathan Foad, Declan Baxter and Ambika Mod.
The 15 minute episode was written by Craig and Paul Doolan, with Horrible Histories and Murder, They Hope director Adam Jenkins overseeing the shoot. Produced by Alison Marlow, the show is made by Happy Tramp North, the production company behind Lee Mack sitcom Semi-Detatched.
Talking about his pilot, Fergus Craig says: "So excited that the BBC is helping me to introduce Martin Fishback to the world. Martin is a man who, like all dads, is an expert on literally every subject."
Meanwhile the character of Martin Fishback says: "Personally, I haven't watched the BBC since Countryfile went woke but seeing as they paid the invoice in a timely manner, I am happy for this to be broadcast. I'd just like to use this public forum to let it be known that if a full series is not commissioned by Easter Monday, I will be taking this to Netflix."
Below is a July 2021 sketch from Fergus Craig, in which Martin Fishback reviews the coronavirus vaccines: