ITV Plots Studio Sitcom for 2020

ITV has commissioned Kate and Kolo, a half-hour studio sitcom for 2020.

Brenda Blethyn will take on the title role of Kate in the new comedy, with Jimmy Akingbola taking on the role of Kolo. A Hat Trick production, Kate and Kolo centers on a working-class woman who runs an old-fashioned café in a neglected seaside town and who develops a strong, if sometimes volatile, friendship with an asylum-seeking African doctor.

The series is written by Guy Jenkin and Andy Hamilton, who will also supervise a trainee writer under the Comedy 50:50 scheme.

Jimmy Mulville, managing director at Hat Trick Productions, said, “ITV is the perfect home for Kate and Kolo, written by two of the country’s top writers and with two great actors like Brenda and Jimmy. It’s a wonderfully funny and sometimes touching comedy about real people coping with life at the sharp end.”

Saskia Schuster, ITV’s comedy controller, added, “Kate and Kolo will be a new sitcom for ITV filmed in front of a live studio audience to air in 2020 on the channel. Brenda and Jimmy head up a fantastic cast and we have six brilliantly written scripts.”