BBC to make comedy based on Danny Baker's life in the vein of Only Fools and Horses
BBC2 will make Cradle to Grave - an eight-part comedy drama based on the early life of the writer and presenter - for a likely broadcast next year
The BBC is hoping for some lovely jubbly larks with a new period comedy drama called Cradle to Grave, based on author and presenter Danny Baker’s memoirs, RadioTimes.com can reveal.
The eight-part BBC2 series is being penned by Baker and comedy writer Jeff Pope and is based on Baker's successful memoir Going to Sea in a Sieve and a follow-up book which is due out later this year.
The upbeat comedy will bring Baker’s tales of his early "wheeler-dealery" years in London’s Bermondsey to vivid life, according to sources.
It also promises some of the “vinegary edge and energy” of Only Fools and Horses, according to a production source, while at the same time meeting BBC TV boss Danny Cohen’s long-standing call for more working-class comedies on the BBC.
When he took on his former role as boss of BBC1 three years ago, Cohen said he was keen to have more “blue collar” comedies on the channel. Now he is director of television at the Corporation he has oversight of all BBC TV projects.
As yet no actors have been assigned to Cradle to Grave but in the only clue about who will star in it Baker told RadioTimes.com that “we have some extraordinary casting choices” which are currently under consideration.
A BBC spokeswoman declined to comment.
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