Top cast for new Armstrong & Bain C4 comedy
Fresh Meat writers pen Bad Sugar for Olivia Colman, Julia Davis and Sharon Horgan
C4 has commissioned a new comedy written by Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain, the creators of Fresh Meat and Peep Show.
Bad Sugar, the story of a family of mining tycoons which is described as "a peculiarly British take on telenovela-style melodramas", was conceived by and stars three of the UK's leading comic actresses: Olivia Colman (Rev), Sharon Horgan (Pulling) and Julia Davis (Nighty Night).
The half-hour pilot episode, which is yet to start filming and will air on C4 in 2012, also features Peter Serafinowicz, Reece Shearsmith and David Bradley (the Harry Potter films), and is directed by Ben Palmer (The Inbetweeners Movie).
Armstrong and Bain, who say Bad Sugar resembles a sitcom version of the Maysles brothers' legendary 1975 documentary Grey Gardens, jointly said: "We've always wanted to write a show with poisonings, death threats, extreme psychological pain and big hair."
Executive producer Sophie Clarke-Jervoise added: "The process of bringing together such gigantic talent, both on and off screen, has been tremendously exciting. Bad Sugar is a darkly comic world where anything can happen, and does!"