‘Avoidance’: Romesh Ranganathan Creates, Writes & Stars In New Comedy For BBC
Having recently taken over the role of quiz master on ‘The Weakest Link’, Romesh Ranganathan is sticking with the BBC as he ventures back to the world of sitcom with ‘Avoidance‘, a new comedy in which he writes and stars.
Jonathan’s (Romesh Ranganathan) life revolves around his nine-year-old son Spencer, and he’s always deferred the big and small decisions to his partner Claire (Jessica Knappett). So when Claire asks him to leave, Jonathan realises he has no home, no friends and no ambition. Except one: to try to preserve his son’s happiness in the face of his parents’ break-up.
Jonathan takes Spencer and runs away. But he only gets as far as the home of sister Danielle (Mandeep Dhillon) and her wife Courtney (Lisa McGrillis). Over the course of the series, the unlikely foursome gradually become a loving but utterly dysfunctional family unit. Can a Beta male find some backbone? And can Jonathan avoid passing his failings (and his really bad dress sense) on to his son?
“Ben and I first conceived this idea in 2017 and have been thinking about it on and off ever since, so if it disappeared after one series it would be really annoying,” comments Romesh. “If I say the BBC have committed to three series in this quote, do they have to honour that?”
The series comes from Romesh Ranganathan and Benjamin Green, co-creators and founders of award-winning comedy and entertainment production company Ranga Bee (‘Asian Provocateur’). Romesh has previously dipped his toe into sitcoms with Sky’s ‘The Reluctant Landlord’ which ran for two seasons. Along with hosting ‘The Weakest Link’, he also hosts BBC Two series ‘The Ranganation’ and took over as the main host of Sky’s ‘A League of Their Own’ in the latest season. Benjamin Green has served as director and producer on ‘Carpool Karaoke’, ‘An Idiot Abroad’, ‘The Moaning of Life’ and ‘Asian Provocateur’.
“It was not exactly a tough ask for Romesh and myself to imagine what life would be like for a useless, conflict-averse, procrastinating Beta male, adds Green. “It was trickier to work out what would happen if he was actually forced to change. We are delighted the BBC have allowed us to make a show for all those people that cannot turn an invitation down or tell a waiter they have the wrong order and especially for those poor souls that have to live with them.”
BBC Studios will distribute Avoidance globally, as the first commission part of a new development and distribution agreement with Ranga Bee productions. The series is produced by Ranga Bee and CPL productions, a Red Arrow Studios company, for the BBC. Avoidance was commissioned by BBC Comedy. The Executive Producers for Ranga Bee are Michelle Farr-Scott, Romesh Ranganathan and Benjamin Green; for CPL Productions it is Danielle Lux and the Commissioning Editor for the BBC is Tanya Qureshi. The Producer is Arnold Widdowson and the Director is Benjamin Green.
“We are thrilled to be working with Romesh and Ben on this brilliant and contemporary family sitcom and its wonderful characters, which we know audiences around the world will fall in love with,” said Jonathan Blyth, Director of Comedy for BBC Studios. “I am delighted we can support Ranga Bee’s ambition to develop new content as fresh and exciting as Avoidance.”
‘Avoidance‘ does not yet have a premiere date. , but if you want to keep track of this or any other show, you can add it via our Never Miss system, and you’ll be notified when it gets a UK premiere date.
