Sandylands Renewed for UKTV’s Gold

UKTV has commissioned another season of Sandylands for the comedy channel Gold.

The new season, produced by King Bert Productions, sees the return of Sanjeev Bhaskar (Unforgotten, Porters) as Les Vegas and Natalie Dew (Roadkill) as Emily Verma. This season also welcomes Tracy-Ann Oberman (Friday Night Dinner, Toast of London) as Donna Vegas, Emily’s estranged mother and diva extraordinaire.

Other returning cast include David Walliams (After Ever After, The Midnight Gang) and Sophie Thompson (Feel Good, Coronation Street) as oddball next-door neighbors Derek and Jeannie Swallows, plus Simon Bird (Friday Night Dinner, Inbetweeners) as police officer Nathan Wild and Craig Parkinson (Line of Duty, The English Game) as local nightclub owner Terry Chino. Harriet Webb (I May Destroy You, The Split) is back as Emily’s BFF, Tina Taylor.

Writers Martin Collins and Alex Finch said: “We are so excited to be back in Sandylands and working with the brilliant team at UKTV. We can’t wait for everyone to see what we’ve got in store for our incredible cast and are absolutely delighted to be welcoming some amazing new faces on a return trip to the beautiful British seaside.”

Pete Thornton, head of scripted at UKTV, said: “Sandylands is a special place for me, and I’m really pleased to finally be returning to it after the long winter months of lockdown. Series one introduced us to a clutch of highly original characters played by an extraordinarily talented cast, and I know the Gold audience will be looking forward to their further adventures, as imagined by two of our most original comic minds, Alex Finch and Martin Collins.”

Gerald Casey, channel director for Gold, said: “We’re thrilled to see the return of this fresh and funny comedy on Gold. It’s such a fantastic lineup and the characters are so expertly crafted by Collins and Finch. I can’t wait to see more!”

Jo Sargent, exec producer for King Bert, added: “We’re delighted to be returning to sunny Sandylands for another season and to have Tracy-Ann Oberman joining our illustrious cast. Martin and Alex have outdone themselves with brilliantly funny scripts that will see Les’s estranged ‘widow’ Donna returning home to stake her claim to the Les Vegas business empire and her daughter … in that order! Thank you to the team at UKTV and Gold, the perfect home for this show.”