New Comedy Starring Martin Freeman and Daisy Haggard Takes a Modern Day Look at Parenthood
Executive Produced by Freeman, Simon Blackwell, Chris Addison, Richard Allen-Turner, Rob Aslett, David Martin, Jon Thoday and Michael Wiggs
Produced by FX Productions, Avalon Television and Sky Original Productions
LOS ANGELES, October 14, 2018 – Breeders, a new comedy series starring Martin Freeman and Daisy Haggard, has been ordered to series at FX, it was announced today by Nick Grad and Eric Schrier, Presidents of Original Programming for FX Networks and FX Productions. The 10-episode first season will premiere on FX in 2020 and is being produced by FX Productions, Avalon Television and Sky Original Productions.
Breeders exposes the parental-paradox that it is possible, in the very same moment, to love your child to the horizon of the universe, while being apoplectically angry enough to want to send them there. Martin Freeman stars as a caring father discovering he’s not quite the man he thought he was.
“Martin Freeman is an incredibly versatile artist who is perfectly paired with the wonderfully talented Daisy Haggard in Breeders,” said Grad. “We enjoyed working with Martin on the first installment of Fargo and are delighted that he is executive producing along with Simon Blackwell and Chris Addison. We also appreciate the chance to partner with Avalon Television and Sky Original Productions to bring this new comedy series to audiences worldwide.”
Academy Award®-nominee and double Emmy® Award-winner Simon Blackwell (Veep, Back, Peep Show) is Showrunner. Breeders is created by Blackwell, double Emmy Award and Directors Guild of America-winner Chris Addison (Veep, The Thick of It, The Hustle) and Emmy and Bafta®-winning Martin Freeman (Fargo, Sherlock, Black Panther, Captain America: Civil War, The Hobbit, Cargo, Ghost Stories), who stars along with Daisy Haggard (Hang Ups, Episodes, Black Mirror). Executive producers are Blackwell, Addison, Freeman, Richard Allen-Turner, Rob Aslett, David Martin, Jon Thoday and Michael Wiggs. Breeders was commissioned for Sky by Zai Bennett, director of programmes, and Jon Mountague, head of comedy, with Josh Cole set to be the commissioning editor.
“I’m delighted to be making Breeders with a team that can make me laugh whilst we look at some of the less-discussed truths and challenges of being a parent,” said Freeman. “I really love this project and am delighted to be working with FX and Sky.”
“I am very excited about making Breeders, to the point of being told to go to bed and stop showing off,” said Simon Blackwell.
Added Chris Addison, “It’s a treat to be cooking up stuff with my old comrade Simon Blackwell and the peerless Martin Freeman. We’re very excited that FX and Sky have agreed to finance what is effectively us working through some of our own issues in the form of ten half-hour sitcom episodes. Usually you have to pay for your own therapy.”
About FX
FX is the flagship general entertainment basic cable channel of FX Networks, a business unit of 21st Century Fox. Launched in June of 1994, FX is carried in 89 million homes. The diverse schedule features a growing roster of critically-acclaimed and award-winning hit dramas series including Taboo, Legion, Snowfall, Trust, Pose, Mayans M.C. and Mr Inbetween; the critically-acclaimed limited series American Horror Story, Fargo, American Crime Story, FEUD and the upcoming Devs, Untitled Fosse/Verdon series, and Shōgun; acclaimed hit comedy series including Atlanta, Baskets and Better Things, and the upcoming What We Do in the Shadows; and the upcoming docuseries The Weekly with The New York Times. FX is the former home of the critically-acclaimed and award-winning hit drama series The Shield, Nip/Tuck, Rescue Me, Damages, Sons of Anarchy, Justified and The Americans. The network’s library of acquired box-office hit movies is unmatched by any ad-supported television network.
About Avalon Television
Avalon is a multi-award-winning talent management, live promotion and television production group with offices in the UK and the USA. Avalon and ARG, the talent management arm, has discovered and represents many artists that are household names, both in the UK, the USA, and around the world. Avalon has produced numerous ground-breaking television shows including: multi-Emmy and Peabody award winner Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO), multi-award winning and Emmy-nominated Catastrophe (Channel 4/Amazon Prime), RTS and Rose d’Or winning Not Going Out (the BBC’s longest running sitcom currently on air), Broadcast Award winning and BAFTA and RTS-nominated Taskmaster (UKTV/Comedy Central USA), and Workaholics (Comedy Central USA). Other shows recently in production include: Wyatt Cenac’s Problem Areas (HBO); The Russell Howard Hour (Sky One), Stand Up Central with Rob Delaney (Comedy Central UK) and Russell Howard & Mum: Road Trip (Comedy Central UK); whilst the catalogue is sold worldwide by Avalon Distribution. For Avalon news visit: www.avalon-entertainment.com or @avalonent.
About Sky
With 23 million customers across seven countries, Sky is Europe’s leading media and entertainment company and is proud to be part of the Comcast group. We have 31,000 colleagues and together we want to connect our customers to more of what they love, including our award-winning original productions, like Patrick Melrose and Save Me, and great shows from our partners including HBO, Showtime and Warner Bros. And our ever improving technology makes it even easier for customers to watch more of the shows they love with personalised recommendations and voice control and, our online streaming service, NOW TV, brings all the enjoyment of Sky with the flexibility of a contract free service. We treat our customers better than anyone else in our field, as Ofcom’s complaints data shows, and we look after our staff too. Sky is one of The Times Top 50 employers for women and we’re in Stonewall’s list of Top 50 LGBT-Inclusive employers. We also use our position as the leading entertainment business in Europe to do the right thing. As part of Sky Ocean Rescue campaign we’re committing to be completely single-use plastic free by 2020, we’re investing £25million over five years in ocean-saving tech and we’re supporting the WWF to protect our oceans with designated Marine Protected Areas.
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Contact:
Avalon
Dan Lloyd
0207 598 7222
FX Networks
John Solberg
310-369-0935
Christine Shaw
310-369-0937
