Warren United

Warren United follows the fortunes of Warren Kingsley, an overweight kitchen salesman and fervent football fan, as he stumbles through life trying to juggle his two passions - football and family.

This feel-good family comedy is a product of Simon Nye, the writer of Men Behaving Badly; Baby Cow, the production company behind shows like Uncle and Gavin & Stacey; and Smiley Guy, the leading Canadian animation house.

There's only one Warren Kingsley, the show's loveable but hapless hero. Warren, aged 37 and a half, is a fan for all seasons and a bloke of two halves: both a devoted husband and dad and a diehard fan of Brainsford United, a chronically struggling club, known to its long-suffering fans as 'The Meringues.'

Warren is voiced by BAFTA award-winning Darren Boyd (Spy, Alpha Papa). Nitin Ganatra (EastEnders) voices Dillip, Warren's best friend, while Morgana Robinson (House Of Fools) voices Charlie, Warren's sulky teenage daughter, and Morwenna Banks (Peppa Pig) voices Warren's young son Harrison.

Eleanor Lawrence (Common Ground) is Warren's Dutch wife Ingrid and Georgie Glen (Waterloo Road) his young-at-heart mum. Johnny Vegas voices Fat Baz, the manager of Brainsford United, while Jonathan Kydd and Bertie Portal voice two well-spoken but foul-mouthed police horses, who dispense their views on match-day issues.

Warren United is the brainchild of executive producer Bill Freedman who has spent no less than eight years bringing it to the screen. Himself a devoted football fan, he was for decades a key figure in West End theatre as a producer and theatre-owner. Warren United marks his TV debut. "It's about the two most important f's in life - family and football," says Freedman. "This show is also about the passion of being a fan. Yes, supporting Brainsford United often brings Warren more pain than joy, but that's what makes him a true fan."

"I've been a fervent football fan - an Arsenal fan - for nearly 50 years, since moving to London from Canada in the 1960s. But before that I was a fervent ice hockey fan, starting in the 1930s. So, Warren United is not really just about football or even sport. It's partly about the two most important f's in life - family and football, and the connections between the two. My three children and seven grandchildren are all but one now avid Arsenal fans too. But it's also even broader than that. It's about the passion of being a fan - the passion and loyalty and often the disproportionate importance of being one. Yes, supporting Brainsford United often brings Warren more pain than joy but that's what makes him a true fan."

"I think that I long ago noticed that there was something irrationally important about being a fan - something at times ridiculous and therefore comical. But when I tried to think of other comedies about being a football fan, I couldn't. So, I thought it would be good to make one. So, Warren United is the first sitcom - maybe the first show of any kind? - about what it really means to be a football fan and why it matters so much."

"The passion and sense of belonging that comes from supporting a football club plays a big role in the lives of many people, including me. As someone once said, 'Of all the unimportant things in life, football is the most important'. Warren United attempts to show why that is - and to make people laugh in the process."

Henry Normal, co-founder of Baby Cow, adds: "New animated narrative series in this country are so rare, so are comedies about football, while those about fans even rarer. On several counts, therefore, we're trying something unusual."