Production
The series is principally filmed in the seaside town of Weston-super-Mare, Somerset. The first series was filmed in the town in autumn 2019. [5] The second series was filmed in spring 2021. [4]
| Sandylands | |
|---|---|
| Genre |
|
| Created by |
|
| Written by |
|
| Directed by | Michael Cumming |
| Starring |
|
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language | English |
| No. of series | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 6 |
| Production | |
| Executive producers |
|
| Producer | Rosemary McGowan |
| Camera setup | Single camera |
| Running time | 40 mins |
| Production company | King Bert Productions |
| Original release | |
| Network | Gold |
| Release | 4 March 2020 – 27 October 2021 |
Sandylands is a British television sitcom created and written by Martin Collins and Alex Finch that began airing on Gold on 4 March 2020. [1] [2]
The series stars Natalie Dew as Emily Verma, who returns to her seaside hometown to attend her father's funeral. [3] The series also stars Sanjeev Bhaskar, Harriet Webb, David Walliams, Sophie Thompson, Simon Bird, Bronwyn James, Hamza Jeetooa, Hugh Bonneville, Craig Parkinson, Radha Sthanakiya and Tracy-Ann Oberman. [1] [4] It is directed by Michael Cumming and produced by King Bert Productions. [1]
Emily Verma (Natalie Dew), who fled Sandylands for a more exciting life in London, reluctantly returns for the funeral of her estranged father Limesh Verma (Sanjeev Bhaskar). He is an amusement arcade owner who calls himself Les Vegas and disappeared at sea in a pedalo. She reunites with childhood friends Tina Taylor (Harriet Webb), a tour guide, and Kenny (Hamza Jeetooa), her father's employee, as well as childhood crush Nathan Wild (Simon Bird), a police officer. She is forced to lodge with overbearing bed and breakfast owners Derek (David Walliams) and Jeannie Swallows (Sophie Thompson) after being unable to gain entry to her father's house. Emily soon discovers that her father is alive and had faked his death because he was in debt and hoped to claim on his life insurance. Emily unwittingly becomes his partner in crime as she attempts to conceal the truth from Nathan and his colleague Trudy Wright (Bronwyn James), the other residents, and from a sinister insurance investigator (Hugh Bonneville), who is investigating her father's claim.
Emily's estranged mother Donna Vegas (Tracy-Ann Oberman), a cruise ship singer, returns and begins to reconnect with her daughter and husband. Emily also begins to grow closer to Nathan and struggles to balance their relationship with her attempts to keep her father's insurance scam secret. Derek and Jeannie Swallows are left reeling after a poor online review from the insurance investigator who had stayed with them in the previous series, and plan a flashy relaunch of their bed and breakfast.
The series is principally filmed in the seaside town of Weston-super-Mare, Somerset. The first series was filmed in the town in autumn 2019. [5] The second series was filmed in spring 2021. [4]
Rupert Hawksley of the i called the series "camp and gaudy with plenty of oo-er humour" and remarked, "Emily’s confusion between grief and anger over her father’s disappearance was cleverly handled by [the writers], who managed to wring out just the right amount of emotion, never dampening the jaunty, end-of-the-pier feel". [6] Alex Fletcher of BT praised the cast and described the series as "a deliciously bonkers escape to seaside nostalgia". [7]
David Edward Williams, known professionally as David Walliams, is an English comedian, actor, writer, and television personality. He is best known for his work with Matt Lucas on the BBC sketch comedy series Little Britain (2003–2006) and Come Fly With Me (2010–2011). From 2012 to 2022, Walliams was a judge on the television talent show competition Britain's Got Talent on ITV. He is also a writer of children's books, having sold more than 37 million copies worldwide.
Matthew Richard Lucas is an English actor, comedian, writer and television presenter. He is best known for his work with David Walliams on the BBC sketch comedy series Little Britain (2003–2006) and Come Fly with Me (2010–2011).
Catherine Tate is an English actress, comedian and writer. She has won numerous awards for her work on the BBC sketch comedy series The Catherine Tate Show (2004–2007), as well as being nominated for an International Emmy Award and seven BAFTAs. Tate played Donna Noble in the 2006 Christmas special of the BBC science fiction series Doctor Who, and reprised her role for the fourth series in 2008, and the 60th anniversary episodes in 2023.
Sophie Thompson is a British actress. She has worked in film, television and theatre and she won the 1999 Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical for the London revival of Into the Woods. She has been nominated for the Olivier Award five other times for Wildest Dreams (1994), Company (1996), Clybourne Park (2011) Guys and Dolls (2016) and Present Laughter (2019).
Shobu Kapoor is an Indian British actress. She is most notable for playing the role of Gita Kapoor, the long-suffering wife of market trader Sanjay, in the BBC soap opera EastEnders from 1993 to 1998.
The Buchanan family is a long-running family of fictional characters on the American soap opera One Life to Live. The ensemble was originally inspired by the Ewing family on the primetime soap opera Dallas, and appeared from September 1979 through the end of the serial in August 2013.
"New Amsterdam" is the fourth episode of the first season of the American television drama series Mad Men. It was written by Lisa Albert and directed by Tim Hunter. The episode originally aired on the AMC channel in the United States on August 9, 2007.
Dawn French's Boys Who Do Comedy is a British TV series in which comedian Dawn French interviews her favourite male comedians about how they came to be comedians. It is a follow-up and counterpart to Dawn French's Girls Who Do Comedy.
Fags, Mags and Bags is a Scottish radio comedy broadcast on BBC Radio 4. Its first series was nominated for a Sony Radio Award.
Come Fly with Me is a British mockumentary television comedy series created by and starring Matt Lucas and David Walliams. Narrated by Lindsay Duncan, the series launched on 25 December 2010 on BBC One. A spoof of British documentaries Airport and Airline, the series follows the activity at a major airport and three fictional airlines: low-cost British airline ‘FlyLo’, low-cost Irish airline ‘Our Lady Air’, and major British airline ‘Great British Air’.
Morgana Robinson is an Australian-born British comedian, impressionist, writer and actress. She has appeared in her comedy sketch programme The Morgana Show, Morgana Robinson's The Agency, House of Fools and Very Important People.
Horrible Histories is a British sketch comedy children's television series, the second live-action iteration of the book series Horrible Histories written by Terry Deary.
Unforgotten is a British crime drama television series, which initially aired on ITV on 8 October 2015. It was created and written by Chris Lang and directed by Andy Wilson. The programme follows a team of London detectives led by DCI Cassie Stuart, DCI Jessie James and DI Sunny Khan as they solve cold cases of disappearance and murder.
Natalie Palamides is an American actress, comedian and television writer.
This is a list of scripted British television programmes featuring one or more actors of Asian ancestry as the programme's leading actor portraying the protagonist or protagonists.
Michael Cumming is a British director and filmmaker. He is best known for directing comedy shows such as Brass Eye, Toast of London, Toast of Tinseltown, The Mark Thomas Product, Snuff Box,The Mark Steel Lectures and Rock Profile.
Mr. Corman is an American comedy-drama television series created by, written by, directed by, and starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt. The series premiered on August 6, 2021, on Apple TV+. In October 2021, the series was canceled after one season.
Plan B is a 2021 American coming-of-age comedy film directed by Natalie Morales from a screenplay by Prathi Srinivasan and Joshua Levy. The film stars Victoria Moroles and Kuhoo Verma. It is titled after the brand of emergency contraceptive, which plays a significant role in the film's plot.
Natalie Dew is an English actress. She began her career as a child actress. She earned a Laurence Olivier Award nomination for her performance in Bend It Like Beckham: The Musical. On television, she stars in the Gold sitcom Sandylands (2020–).