Christopher Guest Preps New Comedy for BBC & HBO

LONDON: Production has started in the U.K. on a new comedy series co-written and co-created by Christopher Guest (Best in Show, This is Spinal Tap) for BBC Two and HBO.

Guest’s co-creator on the show is Jim Piddock (Best in Show, Too Much Sun, Independence Day). Guest and Piddock are executive producing alongside Karen Murphy for Lucky Giant and Chris Sussman for the BBC. Filming continues through early 2013, with shooting happening on location in the U.K. and Los Angeles. BBC Two and HBO will air the show in spring 2013.

The series, Family Tree, stars Chris O’Dowd (Bridesmaids, The IT Crowd). Co-stars include Nina Conti (For Your Consideration), Tom Bennett (The Hunt for Tony Blair) as well as Ed Begley Jr., Maria Blasucci, Matt Griesser, Don Lake, Michael McKean, Lisa Palfrey, Amy Seimetz and Fred Willard. Guest and Piddock will also be featured in the single-camera series, which will be shot with an improvisational, documentary style.

Janice Hadlow, the controller of BBC Two, said: “I am delighted to welcome Christopher Guest to BBC Television. It will be his first television series for British audiences and one I am proud to have here on the BBC. It has a stellar cast led by the fantastic Chris O’Dowd and is an exciting collaboration with NBCU International and HBO. Family Tree will form a key part of the channel’s comedy next year.”

Guest commented: “I am also delighted to welcome myself to BBC Television. I am very lucky to be working with an incredibly talented cast. Chris O’Dowd has been on my radar ever since he was a child actor in Wales.”

O’Dowd added: “I’m terribly excited and monumentally under-qualified to work on an improvised show with Chris Guest. I call him Chris ‘coz we are friends. He calls me George. I don’t know why.”