Katherine Parkinson on Significant Other: "How un-Richard Curtis can you get?"
Parkinson spoke with RadioTimes.com and other press about her ITVX comedy series with Youssef Kerkour.
New ITVX sitcom Significant Other stars Katherine Parkinson and Youssef Kerkour as two lonely neighbours who have lost all faith in love yet are brought together by a chance encounter.
The series has been described as an "unromantic romance" and Parkinson, who along with Kerkour spoke with RadioTimes.com and other press, explained that was one of her central reasons for doing the show.
Explaining what drew her to the series, Parkinson said: "I got sent the scripts knowing that Youssef was doing it and so I had the sort of double whammy of that - I've always admired Youssef and I imagined him when I read it - and we also both had worked with David Sant, he's a director, so that meant he got in touch directly with us both.
"And I think from the moment I read the quite arresting opening of this guy taking pills and lying down and getting up, writing a note to his wife in this kind of petulant sort of way, settling down so that the pills kick in, and then there's knock at the door and it's a woman saying she's having a heart attack, and she has to wait with him until the ambulance arrives...
"I just thought that was so bleakly beautiful, and what an amazing way for a kind of romantic comedy, essentially, to kick off. How un-Richard Curtis can you get? I’m a big fan of Richard Curtis, but it feels like a very original, anti-romantic comedy."
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Parkinson also said that while she was in from the moment of reading the first scene and knowing of the talent involved, she was then "pleased to see that the standard maintained itself in terms of originality".
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Parkinson is best-known for her roles in series such as The IT Crowd, Doc Martin and Humans, while she also starred in Australian sitcom Spreadsheet last year, which she teased was "quite rude".
Meanwhile, Kerkour has had major roles in Home, Stay Close and Dracula, and also had an appearance in the 2019 Gavin & Stacey Christmas special.
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Significant Other also stars the likes of Kéllé Bryan, Mark Heap, Ben Bailey Smith, Sue Vincent, Shaun Williamson, Olivia Poulet and Will Ash, and is based on an award-winning Israeli series of the same name.
Significant Other will stream on ITVX from 8th June 2023. Check out more of our Comedy coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to see what's on tonight.
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