Peep Show stars David Mitchell and Robert Webb will reunite for a new Channel 4 sitcom, Back, about a dysfunctional family running a pub.
The new comedy is written by Simon Blackwell, a regular collaborator with Armando Iannucci on In The Loop and Veep who also wrote episodes of Peep Show, which ended after nine series and 12 years last year.
Mitchell plays Stephen who inherits the family business after the death of his father, but his chance to shine goes awry when his charming and charismatic former foster brother Andrew (Webb) turns up out of the blue at the funeral, keen to rejoin the closest thing he has ever had to a family.
Stephen’s bohemian mother Ellen and sister Cass are played by Julia Deakin (Spaced, I’m Alan Partridge) and Louise Brealey (Sherlock’s Molly Hooper).
Initially a comedy pilot, Back is made by the pair’s production company, That Mitchell & Webb Company, in association with Rev producers, Big Talk Productions.
Phil Clarke, head of comedy for Channel 4, said: “To have Mitchell and Webb and Simon Blackwell working together is a very exciting prospect.
“It’s a unique configuration of some seriously big comedy minds. Simon has written a very funny and clever script with a strong emotional heart that takes Robert Webb and David Mitchell in a new and genuinely intriguing direction.”
Back is directed by Ben Palmer (The Inbetweeners Movie) and produced by Kate Crowther, whose credits include BBC2’s Cradle to Grave and Channel 4’s Raised by Wolves.
Kenton Allen, chief executive of Big Talk Productions, said: “Blackwell, Mitchell and Webb are some of the finest comedy minds I’ve ever encountered, a supergroup of incredibly witty individuals.
“The show was an absolute pleasure to develop with them and I only hope the audience will laugh as much when they see Back as I have when spending time with these masters of their craft.”
Blackwell added: “It’s been a pleasure and a privilege to write for David and Robert again, and very exciting to be surrounded by such a superb cast, director and production team.”
