The has announced Opening Up, a new six-part comedy set and filmed in and around Manchester and heading to iPlayer and One. The warm relationship series follows Penny and Rhys, a long-term couple who try to fix their faltering sex life by sleeping with other people.
The said the pair soon learn that entering an open relationship without a clue how they work is not a recipe for success. The project was unveiled on Wednesday, May 13 at the Comedy Festival in Liverpool, where the broadcaster also confirmed a new series called Hopley Hall, a return for Two Doors Down for an eighth series and a documentary titled Twenty Years Of Not Going Out.
Opening Up was created and written by Edinburgh Comedy Award winner Amy Gledhill and RTS Award-nominated writer Nic Sampson. Gledhill will star as Penny in the series, which is being made by Avalon.
The announcement gives the another relationship comedy with a simple premise and an obvious risk: two people trying to solve an intimacy problem by adding more complications. That is exactly what drew the broadcaster in, according to Director of Comedy Jon Petrie, who said the show stood out immediately and praised the writing as sharp, quick-witted and properly funny, with real heart underneath the chaos and awkwardness.
Gledhill and Sampson said the commission was a dream come true and credited the ’s support and passion for the project from the start. They also said they were thrilled to be working with a stacked cast and crew and could not wait to show viewers what they had been working on. Avalon executive producer Jon Thoday said the company was very excited to be working with the, Gledhill and Sampson on the series, and added that the Edinburgh Fringe remains an excellent breeding ground for new comedies.
The timing matters because the used the festival to set out a broad comedy push in one day, pairing Opening Up with new and returning titles including Amandaland, Black Ops, Am I Being Unreasonable, Things You Should Have Done, Such Brave Girls and Mammoth. For Opening Up, the next step is production, with Manchester giving the series its setting and its backdrop as the lines up another original comedy for its platforms.
