A BBC comedy-sitcom starring Dawn French and Mark Heap, filmed in Axbridge and Cheddar, is set to be screened this month.
The plot revolves around a granny (French) who fakes her husband’s death to secure an insurance payout. It is scheduled for release on BBC iPlayer and BBC One from January 7th.
‘Can You Keep a Secret?’ was filmed in Axbridge, Cheddar and nearby areas of Somerset last year.
Axbridge’s Medieval square will feature heavily, as it did in the recent TV series ‘A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder’.
Filming for feature films and TV brought an estimated £4.2m of spend to the county last year and Screen Somerset, Somerset Council’s film office, is helping entice more productions this way.
A BBC spokesperson says of the new comedy: “Deception, fraud and family drama… this family has a secret – now they just have to keep it. Dawn French plays widow Debbie Fendon – granny, lawn bowler, tinpot dictator – who will stop at nothing to make sure her family’s protected.”
“Unfortunately, most of the time the person they really need protecting from is her. When her hermit-like husband William (Mark Heap) unexpectedly dies, she makes an outlandish decision that will put the family under more pressure than ever before.”
“Because Debbie isn’t actually a widow and William didn’t really die – he was just mistakenly declared dead and the two retirees found themselves staring down the barrel of an opportunity too good to pass up. Just a few months hiding out in the loft waiting for the life insurance to pay out and then they can live out their golden years in peace.”
“This all proves a bit much for their easily frazzled son Harry (Craig Roberts – Submarine, The Fundamentals of Caring) who – despite his emotional shortcomings – has managed to acquire a family of his own and a potentially life-changing insurance payout from his father’s ‘death’.”
“What’s especially tricky for Harry is that his pathologically pragmatic wife Neha (Mandip Gill – Doctor Who, This Time Next Year) is a local police officer and, if she finds out about her in-laws’ fraudulent ways, the Fendons might have an issue.”
“Clearly Harry – reunited with a dad he’s just buried and the reality that his parents have turned into a pensioner version of Bonnie and Clyde – suddenly has a lot more to juggle. Sandwiched between two generations of toddlers, he finds himself navigating a very common stage of life – only this time, it’s criminal.”
