Aimee Lou Wood and David Morrissey have been tapped for the lead roles in new BBC comedy “Daddy Issues.”
Wood is best known for her turns in “Sex Education” and “Living” (the latter opposite Bill Nighy) while Morrissey has starred in “The Walking Dead,” where he played The Governor, and James Graham’s series “Sherwood.”
The duo are now set to play daughter and father in “Daddy Issues,” which follows the story of hard-partying Gemma (Wood), who lives for the weekend when she gets down to let down her hair in Manchester. But after a brief encounter on an airplane during a vacation to Portugal leaves her pregnant, Gemma finds her life turned upside down.
As well as coping with her pregnancy, she’s also got sad dad Malcolm (Morrissey) to contend with, who’s struggling to put his life back together after the collapse of his marriage — a journey which involves learning how to boil an egg, load a washing machine and figure out the Wi-Fi.
Unluckily for Gemma, Malcolm is the only person she has in her life to lean on – which is why he moves out of his bedsit for divorced men and into her flat, despite not knowing how to microwave some rice without causing an explosion.
“At its heart ‘Daddy Issues’ is a classic odd couple comedy about two funny, deeply flawed characters, who just happen to be father and daughter,” reads the logline. “Along the way there will be dating disasters and failed romances, toxic friendships and messy family dynamics, plus a dangerously sociopathic antenatal teacher.”
“Brassic” scribe Danielle Ward writes the show while Catherine Morshead (“The Full Monty”) and Damon Beesley (“The Inbetweeners 2”) direct. Fudge Park will produce the show for BBC Three and iPlayer.
“It had been a very long time since a script had made me laugh out loud,” Wood said. “Danielle’s did exactly that. Then when I heard David was involved, I was even more excited.”
Lynn Roberts (“Man Like Mobeen”) is on board as producer while Phil Gilbert (“Count Abdulla”) exec produces for Fudge Park Productions alongside Wood, Morrissey, Ward and Beesley. The commissioner for the BBC is Seb Barwell.
BBC’s director of comedy commissioning Jon Petrie commissioned “Daddy Issues,” which he calls a “genuinely laugh out loud sitcom.” Securing Wood and Morrissey for the lead roles was “the cherry on the cake,” he added.
Creator Danielle Ward said: “I cannot wait for the world to meet Gemma and Malcolm, and I’m so grateful to the BBC for finally giving me my own series, 20 years after I lost the BBC New Comedy Awards. Aimee and David were my dream casting from the get-go and who ever gets their dream cast? It’s a total thrill to be working with such naturally funny and wildly talented actors.”
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