Sally Lindsay and Daniel Ryan anchor this Manchester-set comedy drama as Lisa and Dan Johnson, whose cul-de-sac life unravels through six series of barbed banter and family meltdowns. Created by Sarah Hooper, the show debuted on Sky One in August 2011, shifted to Sky Living for runs two to four, then returned to Sky One for its 2015-17 swansong, signing off with a 90-minute special in June 2017.
The regulars orbit The Dog and Dart pub and Lisa’s front garden, where Bobby Ball’s laddish Barry, Paula Wilcox’s meddling mum Pauline and Neil Fitzmaurice’s deadpan Ferguson trade insults across privet hedges. Cast turnover is brisk: Pauline Collins and Angela Griffin exit after series two, George Sampson arrives as wayward teen Gary, Samantha Womack and Nigel Harman join as warring mother-and-son Tanya and Bradley, while Robson Green’s roguish Chris and James Dreyfus’s camp Roger drop in for extended stints.
Filmed in Trafford, Chorlton and The Sharp Project studios, the hour-long episodes (plus adverts) lean on quick-fire northern humour rather than cliff-hangers, delivering 53 instalments that chart pregnancies, affairs, weddings and funerals without ever leaving the postcode. Tiger Aspect produced, with Mark Brotherhood steering scripts alongside Hooper and Amy Roberts, and Dermot Boyd directing the bulk of the later series.
Production Details
Sky Living / 6 Seasons / 52 Episodes / 2011
Created by: Amy Roberts
Showrunner(s): Mark Brotherhood
Writer(s): Mark Brotherhood
Producer(s): Siobhan Rhodes (2011) Howard Ella (2012–13) Jane Wallbank (2013) Brett Wilson (2013) Serena Cullen (2014–17)
Main Cast
Sally Lindsay as Lisa
Daniel Ryan as Dan
Bobby Ball as Barry
Sian Reeves as Bianca
Paula Wilcox as Pauline
Ainsley Howard as Denise
George Sampson as Gary
Daniel Ings as Robbie
Liza Tarbuck as
Adrian Bower as
