Hit UKTV Original Meet the Richardsons will return to UKTV’s award-winning comedy entertainment channel Dave for a second series and two Christmas special episodes. The brand new commission, starring married comedians Jon Richardson and Lucy Beaumont, follows the knockout ratings success of the first series which averaged 1.13million viewers per episode*.
Written by Lucy Beaumont and Tim Reid (Car Share) and produced by Second Act Productions, Meet the Richardsons offers a fictional window into the funny and frustrated marriage of Jon Richardson and Lucy Beaumont as they give viewers a glimpse of their life in Yorkshire.
Lucy Beaumont said: “So glad to be getting paid to have an argument again, lockdown has been weird living with someone who has spent his life practising social distancing and frequent handwashing - if the government advise wearing beige cardigans and being a tedious grump I know something has been going on.”
Jon Richardson said: “It’s great news that there will be a second series of Meet the Richardsons. I can’t wait to give away the few private moments of my life that aren’t already in the public doman and welcome the crew back to “The D & B” with open arms. It was getting boring drinking alone in there anyway. Really. Fantastic stuff.”
The second series centres on the further frustrations of married life, the clash of career and personal life and how Jon and Lucy have been coping since viewers last saw them, including dealing with life after lockdown, which Jon predicted of course, creating the perfect family Christmas and Lucy’s mum Gill spotting some spooky going’s on in The Dog and Bastard.
The series is commissioned by Iain Coyle, UKTV’s head of comedy entertainment and ordered by Luke Hales, Dave channel director. Richard Watsham is UKTV’s director of commissioning and Steve North is UKTV’s genre general manager for comedy and entertainment. Meet the Richardsons will be directed and produced by Lee Hupfield and Eddie Stafford from Second Act Productions.
Iain Coyle said: “I’m so delighted with this commission. With his own pub in his back garden and his general reticence to socialise, there are very few people more prepared for a pandemic than Jon Richardson and I’m sure 2020 has put zero strain on his and Lucy’s marriage.”
Luke Hales added: “I couldn’t be prouder of this show, Jon and Lucy have created something really unique, really relate-able and really, really funny. I’m so glad our brilliant viewers enjoyed the show as much as we do at Dave and the whole team can’t wait to see how much Jon has enjoyed social distancing and isolation, how much Lucy hasn’t, and what a Richardsons Christmas is like.”
Series one aired earlier this year and episode one delivered a 7-day consolidated figure of 830k making it the strongest launch of a brand new original series on Dave in over five years**. It was also a hit with younger viewers, premiering with a 10.34% 16-34 audience share.
Meet the Richardsons first series is available to watch now on UKTV Play. The special episodes will air later this year and the full second series will air in 2021.
