sitcoms

Bad Sisters, a black comedy developed by Sharon Horgan, Dave Finkel and Brett Baer, first aired on Apple TV in August 2022 and returned for a second series in November last year

Award-winning sitcom Bad Sisters has been axed after just two series, it is reported.

The black comedy, set in Dublin, was widely praised since it first aired on Apple TV in August 2022 and returned for a second season last November. It has won two BAFTAs among other awards and fans had hoped to see more of the programme, developed by Sharon Horgan, Dave Finkel and Brett Baer.

But it is understood Bad Sisters won’t return to our screens despite its popularity. Fans have been left fuming after a source said the show, starring the likes of Anne-Marie Duff and Eva Birthistle, had reached “a natural conclusion”.

One viewer posted online: “Noooo, Bad Sisters on Apple TV was pretty good.” Another shared: “Damn, Bad Sisters on Apple TV is so good. Worth the watch.”

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The TV insider told The Sun: “Many viewers who watched the first couple of series felt like the story reached a natural conclusion anyway, but of course, they hoped there’d be more.

“With every passing month it seemed less and less likely and now the show has been shelved by Apple completely, it’s not a huge shock, but it’s still a big disappointment for fans.

“It’s a particularly sad state of affairs because it was one of the few comedies in recent years that seem to have cut through with audiences, and many will be sad to see how short lived it is.”

Horgan also has a lead role in the programme – she plays one of the five Garvey siblings at the heart of the comedy. Sarah Greene and Eve Hewson make up the quintet, who are bound together by the deaths of their parents and the promises they made to always protect one another.

But they end up at the centre of a life insurance investigation after one of the women wants rid of her vile husband, and he ends up getting bumped off with the help of her sisters. The Mirror has contacted Apple TV about the future of Bad Sisters, rated as 88% on Rotten Tomatoes.

The development comes after a second series of ITV sitcom Piglets was confirmed – despite criticism following its opening season last year. The Police Federation even blasted Piglets as “highly offensive” before its release in July last year, after which critic panned the programmne for being outdated and using stereotypes. Watchdog Ofcom received more than 100 complaints after the first episode alone.

But ITV are sticking with the show, which stars Sarah Parish and Mark Heap, and the green light has been given for a second series, it is understood.

Ricky Champ, who plays Daz in it, said on the Reading Between The Lines podcast: “Piglets has been commissioned for series two. It’s crazy, because we got absolutely slammed. The first series came out and it was met with absolute venom – across the board.”

Comedian Lee Mack has revealed that his Not Going Out costar Sally Bretton suffered a medical emergency while filming the latest series of their hugely popular sitcom.

Plenty of laughs took over the set of Not Going Out’s latest season. But panic hijacked production when Sally Bretton was rushed to hospital, derailing filming.

In a television age obsessed with slick dramas, thrillers and satire, comedian Lee Mack is doing something radical – he’s trying to make us laugh. Out loud. Every few seconds. And he’s doing it the old fashioned way, with a studio sitcom, a real live audience and endless gags.

As his BBC1 sitcom Not Going Out returns for a brand new series, with another green lit for next year, it is clearly not going anywhere, clocking up over 100 episodes and holding its status as the longest-running UK sitcom on air.

“We’ll never catch up with Last Of The Summer Wine,” quips Lee. “Thank God.” He adds: “Our show is seen as very traditional, and some would say old fashioned, so therefore not risky, but it is a risk because it’s the minority.

“The highs and lows are extreme. Love or hate the studio sitcom, there’s no denying that they are really trying to go for the laugh. I’m not trying to write a line that makes people smile.

You don’t get canned smiling. I used to aim for a joke on every page, but that’s only every 30 seconds, it’s not enough. We try for a laugh in every line.”

The 56-year-old, who also appears in Would I Lie To You? and hosts game show The 1% Club, stars in the sitcom as ‘Lee’ alongside Sally Bretton as his long-suffering wife Lucy. The show, which started in 2006, has followed them from awkward flatmates via a torturous ‘will-they-won’t they’ plot until finally, they got married and had three kids.

The latest episodes, which Lee was determined to film ‘as live’ like a play, feature everything from a robotic sex doll to a freebie hotel stay, dilapidated campervan, roles as TV extras and a swipe at Oasis concert ticket sales.

Although, Lee reveals a medical issue halted production for a couple of weeks. He says: “There was a moment in that Oasis episode when we were filming it, when Sally said to me – she looked a bit in pain, ‘Do you know what appendicitis feels like?’

“I said, ‘I have no idea but I can tell you now you haven’t got appendicitis, otherwise you wouldn’t be here filming’. The next day she had her appendix out.”

Lee, who writes the show with Daniel Peak, takes an affectionate swing at Oasis in the episode that sees the couple lose their place in the online queue and start to blame each other. Lee laughs: “That is based in truth – I’m a massive Oasis fan, I did try to get tickets, I didn’t get them and I’m livid.”

He adds: “I thought, wouldn’t it be great if I could get Liam or Noel to appear in that episode. My friend Rob Brydon had interviewed Noel, so I asked for his number.

It was the day after the ticket release. I texted Noel, ‘I know this isn’t a good time, but I reckon everyone’s asking for tickets and I’m probably the only one that isn’t. Will you be in my sitcom?’ He never got back to me.”

Lee adds: “My personal favourite episode is the one where I accidentally bring home a robot sex doll. Let me tell you, robotic sex dolls are very hard to get hold of.

We had an actor, with a mask on, and it just didn’t work. We could see her breathing. So in the end they had to make a robot. It was brilliant. It moved its head, it moved its mouth, its eyes, and I was in a double act with a sex robot.”

The upcoming series rolls the story on several years, with Lee and Lucy now empty nesters. With plenty of time for each other, what could possibly go wrong? Quite a lot it turns out.

Episode one follows their attempted house move, thwarted when they find their dream home, but Lee needs to use the loo, causing the usual tension, mistaken identities and farce.

There’s a nod to nostalgia too, with a photo on the mantelpiece in their new home of Bobby Ball, who played Lee’s dad and died in October 2020.

Lee says: “We all miss him a lot. He was like me, he wasn’t from an acting background – so whatever I’m like in a studio, he was 50 times worse. The director would have to tell him not to keep looking at the audience every time he cracked a joke.”

Over the years a long list of stars have appeared in the show, including Miranda Hart, Tim Vine, Katy Wix, Abigail Cruttenden and Hugh Dennis, with many forgetting that Catherine Tate played Lucy in the pilot, followed by Megan Dodds in series one, before Beyond Paradise star Sally took over.

Lee says: “When we look back, Sally and I do get a bit emotional. We’ve been in the show a long time and there are different eras of it, especially when you look at all the people from the past who have been in the show and come and gone. “I think Sally’s aged brilliantly, whereas I’ve got a big gray beard. It’s been forever.”

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