Sky Original Production Living the Dream set for a second series on Sky One and streaming service NOW TV

A second series of Sky Original Production Living the Dream will be coming to Sky One and streaming service NOW TV next year, with filming starting in spring 2018.

In the second instalment of the comedy drama from the makers of Cold Feet, stars Philip Glenister (Outcast, Mad Dogs) and Lesley Sharp (Scott & Bailey, Paranoid) once again play Mal and Jen Pemberton, who with their teenage kids Tina (Rosie Day) and Freddie (Brenock O’Connor) have left Britain behind in pursuit of the American dream.

The first episode of Living the Dream attracted an audience of 830,000, making it the biggest launch of a comedy-drama on Sky One since 2012. The six-part series, currently airing on Thursday nights at 9pm, as well as on Catch Up TV, follows the Pembertons as they decide to leave rainy England and move to the sunshine state of Florida in search of a better life. However, soon after arriving, it turns out they aren’t quite going to be living the American dream they hoped for…

Philip Glenister said: “I'm looking forward to continuing living our dream, and teaching the residents on the RV park how to make a proper brew!”

Lesley Sharp said: “I’m very much looking forward to continuing the American dream with Phil, Rosie and Brenock. Can’t wait to get back to the land where dreams supposedly become true.”

Adam MacDonald, director of Sky One, said: “It’s a great pleasure to take Sky One viewers back to the sunshine state in 2018. Season one made stars of the Pembertons and in season two they’ll earn their stripes. But will the locals let them? Watch this space, or as Mal might unadvisedly say… ‘see you later alligator’.”

Living the Dream is created and written by Mick Ford (Single Father, The Five) and produced by Big Talk Productions (Cold Feet, Mum, Rev). The series was recommissioned by Sky One’s channel director, Adam MacDonald and Jon Mountague, Sky’s head of comedy. James Dean (This Is Jinsy) returns as producer alongside executive producers Luke Alkin, Kenton Allen and Matthew Justice for Big Talk Productions alongside Simon Curtis (Women in Gold, My Week with Marilyn) and Mick Ford.

ITV Studios Global Entertainment is distributing Living the Dream internationally with WME partnering in the US.

For further information please contact:

Sky
Nicola Vincent
nicola.vincent@sky.uk
020 7032 3078


Notes to editors

About Sky

Sky is Europe's leading entertainment company, serving 22.5 million customers across seven countries - UK, Ireland, Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain and Switzerland. The company has annual revenues of £12.9 billion and is Europe’s leading investor in television content with annual programming spend of over £6 billion.

From exclusive partnerships with HBO and Showtime, to Sky Original Productions, Sky offers the best and broadest range of content along with the best viewing experience to suit each and every customer. Whether that’s through the multi-award winning next generation box, Sky Q, or Sky’s contract-free online streaming service, NOW TV, customers have access to the latest movies, drama, sports and kids entertainment wherever and whenever they like. This is all supported by Sky’s best in class customer service.

Sky’s success is not just based on what the company does but how it does it. Named as one of the Top 10 Green Companies in the World by Newsweek, one of the world’s most recognised rankings of business’s environmental performance, Sky ensures its responsible business strategy is embedded right across the group.

Sky has over 31,000 employees and is listed as one of The Times Top 50 employers for women. Sky is listed on the London Stock Exchange (SKY).

About NOW TV

NOW TV is a pick and mix TV streaming service that lets you choose from a range of passes contract free. Available anytime, anywhere, you can watch through a NOW TV Box, on the web or on over 60 devices with the NOW TV app.

Whether you’re into big dramas, blockbuster movies, live sports or even just some extra TV for the kids, NOW TV offers four passes which include the latest and best TV and movies: Entertainment, Sky Cinema, Kids and Sky Sports. This includes Sky Atlantic, over 250 Box Sets on demand, all 10 Sky Sports channels and over 1,000 movies – all available with no contract.

• For more information visit nowtv.com
• Follow us at facebook.com/NOWTV
• Join the conversation on twitter @NOWTV
• Visit us at Youtube.com/nowtvofficial

About Big Talk

Big Talk Productions is one of the UK’s leading scripted television and film production companies. Over the last twenty years it has enjoyed an exceptional output of outstanding, original scripted television comedy and drama and a track record of nurturing talent. The company began with Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Edgar Wright’s cult television series Spaced. Big Talk was named ‘Indie Production Company of the Year’ at the 2016 Broadcast Awards, just one of its many successes.
 
Led by Chief Executive Kenton Allen, Managing Director Matthew Justice and Founder Nira Park, the company has expanded significantly over the last eight years. Highlights of its award-winning output include Rev. (BBC2) and Him & Her (BBC3) both winning the BAFTA for situation comedy in 2011 and 2014, and multi-award nominee Friday Night Dinner, which aired its fourth season in 2016.
 
In 2015, Big Talk produced Cockroaches (ITV2), The Job Lot returned to ITV2 for a third series, and Brotherhood was broadcast on Comedy Central. Another big hit from 2015 was Raised By Wolves, written by Caitlin and Caroline Moran, which was re-commissioned for a second series after it premiered to rapturous reviews and ratings. The show returned to screens in March 2016 on Channel 4 and went on to win the prestigious Rose d’Or for Best Sitcom.
 
Big Talk stormed into 2016 with Crashing for Channel 4/Netflix. Written by and starring multi-award-winning actress and playwright Phoebe Waller-Bridge, it garnered rave reviews. In May, Mum (BBC2) – the continuing collaboration between Big Talk and Him & Her creator Stefan Golaszewski – made its critically-lauded debut, winning Best Comedy at the Broadcast Awards and the BPG Awards, as well as a BAFTA TV Craft Award for Best Comedy Writer and was re-commissioned for another series to be released in 2017.
 
Big Talk also continued to make its mark in drama programming. A Young Doctor’s Notebook (Sky Arts), starring Jon Hamm and Daniel Radcliffe won a Broadcast Award for Best Multi-Channel Programme. Youngers (E4) proved to be a big hit and returned for a second series. Mr Sloane, starring Nick Frost and Olivia Colman, launched on Sky Atlantic from Emmy-award winning writer and director Robert Weide.  And from the Oscar-nominated Matt Charman came the drama series, Our Zoo, for BBC1.
 
2016 also saw the launch of 10 x 60 supernatural detective series Houdini and Doyle from House creator, David Shore. Big Talk also relaunched, after a thirteen-year hiatus, the much-loved, BAFTA-award winning Cold Feet, for ITV with creator Mike Bullen and the original cast returning. The show was ITV’s biggest drama launch of 2016 with an audience of 8.4 million and a 33% total audience share.
 
Alongside Big Talk’s re-commissioned successes, 2017 promises brand new comedy and drama including Back, an acerbic new comedy written by the Oscar-nominated and Emmy-award winning Simon Blackwell, which just aired to popular and critical acclaim. Starring David Mitchell and Robert Webb, Back is a 6-part series for Channel 4/Sundance. Big Talk is also producing a new 6-part comedy series with Sky Atlantic called Bliss, written and directed by acclaimed US writer/director/performer David Cross (Arrested Development) starring Stephen Mangan, Heather Graham and Jo Hartley. Timewasters (ITV2), a brand-new comedy about a struggling South London jazz band, who travel back to the 1920s, is about to debut this Autumn.
 
Also in 2017, new six-part comedy series Just A Couple, written, created and directed by Sebastian Thiel streamed on BBC3’s online platform in Spring. TV Movie Diana & I, penned by Oscar-nominated writer Jeremy Brock (Mrs Brown, The Last King Of Scotland) and directed by the award-winning Peter Cattaneo (Rev, The Full Monty), premiered on BBC2 this Summer.  And, of course, Living The Dream is all set for Sky 1 in just a few weeks.
 
Big Talk’s first feature film was cult comedy Shaun of the Dead and was the first instalment of Edgar Wright’s iconic Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy, starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. Shaun was followed by 2007 hit Hot Fuzz and 2013’s The World’s End. Other films include Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, Attack the Block, Cuban Fury, Man Up and Grimsby. Most recently, Big Talk produced Edgar Wright’s latest movie Baby Driver. The film premiered at this year’s South by Southwest Film Festival and won the SXSW Audience Award.  It was released in June 2017 to huge critical acclaim and is set to be Wright’s biggest commercial success to date.
 
Big Talk continues to work with some of the most exciting voices in both the UK and the US to bring fresh, dynamic, authored stories to screen.