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Friday Night Dinner
Main title screen
Genre	Sitcom black comedy farce
Created by	Robert Popper
Written by	Robert Popper
Directed by	Robert Popper (s4 ep6, s5 ep4)
Starring	Tamsin Greig Paul Ritter Simon Bird Tom Rosenthal Mark Heap
Theme music composer	Miike Snow
Opening theme	"Animal" (Punks Jump Up Remix)
Composers	Little Boots ("Meddle") Casiokids ("Fot i hose") Phoenix ("1901") Deerhoof ("Believe E.S.P.")
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of series	6
No. of episodes	37 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Nira Park Caroline Leddy Kenton Allen
Producer	Robert Popper
Production location	London
Editors	Lucien Clayton Pete Drinkwater Paul Machliss
Running time	21–25 minutes
Production companies	Popper Pictures Big Talk Productions
Original release
Network	Channel 4
Release	25 February 2011 (2011-02-25) – present

Friday Night Dinner is a British television sitcom written by Robert Popper and starring Tamsin Greig, Paul Ritter, Simon Bird, Tom Rosenthal, and Mark Heap. The comedy is focused on the regular dinner experience of the middle-class British Jewish Goodman family every Friday night. The series aired since 25 February 2011 on Channel 4. Following the conclusion of the Paul Ritter's death in 2021, it was announced that the show would return.

The show received two BAFTA nominations in 2012. The first series was nominated for Best Situation Comedy, while Greig was nominated for Best Female Comedy Performance. In 2021, for his performance in the final series of the show, Ritter received a posthumous BAFTA nomination for Best Male Comedy Performance.

Premise

Friday Night Dinner depicts Shabbat dinner in the middle-class secular Jewish Goodman family, reflecting writer and producer Robert Popper's own secular Jewish upbringing. It is set in suburban North London, and filmed there, in Mill Hill.

The family consists of mother Jackie (Tamsin Greig), father Martin (Paul Ritter), elder son and musician Adam (Simon Bird), and younger son and estate agent Jonny (Tom Rosenthal). The episodes follow the family as the sons arrive at the family home and proceed to their dinner, which is often interrupted by numerous things. Although some episodes are centred around Jackie’s eccentricities, she is usually the straight character who tries to run a normal household, but is disrupted by the rest of the family. Most frequently, dinner is disrupted by Adam and Jonny playing practical jokes on each other, for example by putting salt in each other's drinking glasses, or Martin's strange habits – including walking around the house topless or eating out-of-date food and his catchphrase "shit on it". They are frequently interrupted by their strange but good-hearted neighbour Jim Bell (Mark Heap), who is attracted to Jackie and visits them due to his loneliness, in most cases accompanied by his dog, Wilson, of whom he is afraid. After Wilson's death at the end of series 5, Jim adopts a new dog who he names Milson.

Jackie's neurotic best friend, Valerie Lewis (Tracy-Ann Oberman), known as "Auntie Val" to Adam and Jonny, is a frequent visitor, as was Jackie's mother, Nellie "Grandma" Buller (Frances Cuka). Occasional guest appearances were made by Martin's mother, Cynthia Goodman (Rosalind Knight), referred to by the boys as "Horrible Grandma" due to her cruel and condescending treatment of the Goodmans. Other guest appearances featured Nellie's suitor Mr. Morris (Harry Landis) who appeared in three episodes while Val's husband, Larry (Steve Furst) briefly appears in two episodes.

Cast

Recurring

Guest

Episode list

Series 7 (2023)

1. Jim’s Food:

Legacy

For the 10th anniversary of the show, a special 90-minute documentary episode aired on Channel 4 on 28 May 2021, entitled Friday Night Dinner: Ten Years and A Lovely Bit of Squirrel. The documentary was dedicated to Paul Ritter, who had died seven weeks earlier.

American version

In September 2011, Deadline Hollywood announced that Greg Daniels, who had adapted The Office for American television, would spearhead an American remake of the series for the broadcast network NBC. The remake was picked up for a pilot, written by Daniels and directed by Ken Kwapis and starring Allison Janney, Tony Shalhoub as the parents and Gary Anthony Williams as Jim (Now renamed Mark). The pilot did not go to series.

In 2014, CBS bought an adaptation of the British show for the American market, as a "put pilot".

In 2016, a third attempt at an American remake was under development by CBS, with the title Sunday Night Dinner.

In 2022, Amazon Freevee ordered an American remake, with the title Dinner with The Parents.

See also

• List of Friday Night Dinner episodes

References

1. Plunkett, John (12 February 2010). "Tamsin Greig and Pulling's Paul Ritter to star in Channel 4 comedy". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 February 2011.
2. "Friday Night Dinner documentary dedicated to Paul Ritter". The List. 8 April 2021. Archived from the original on 30 September 2021. Retrieved 11 April 2021.
3. "Season Six Of Friday Night Dinner Was The Last One, Creator Robert Popper Confirms". Lad Bible. 25 May 2021. Retrieved 25 May 2021.
4. "Television Awards Winners in 2012". BAFTA. 24 April 2012. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
5. "BAFTA TV 2021: The Winners and Nominations for the Virgin Media British Academy Television Awards and British Academy Television Craft Awards". BAFTA. 28 April 2021. Retrieved 28 April 2021.
6. Saner, Emine (4 March 2011). "Tamsin Greig: 'I always think I'll never work again'". The Guardian.
7. "Friday Night Dinner. House, Cast and why we won't get another series. • Dailytap". Dailytap. 19 June 2021. Retrieved 21 June 2021.
8. Friday Night Dinner stars Simon Bird and Tom Rosenthal talk returning to the show
9. "Top 10 Underrated British Shows You May Not Have Heard Of". Collider. 26 May 2022. Retrieved 27 May 2022.
10. Levine, Nick (6 April 2021). ""Shit on it!": Paul Ritter's funniest moments on 'Friday Night Dinner'". NME. Retrieved 27 May 2022.
11. "'Friday Night Dinner' anniversary documentary to air this spring". NME. 13 January 2021. Retrieved 11 April 2021.
12. West, Amy (7 April 2021). "Friday Night Dinner documentary to be dedicated to late star Paul Ritter". Digital Spy. Retrieved 11 April 2021.
13. Andreeva, Nellie (6 September 2011). "Greg Daniels To Adapt British Comedy 'Friday Night Dinner' For NBC". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 4 February 2012.
14. Andreeva, Nellie (3 February 2012). "Ken Kwapis Set To Direct NBC Pilot 'Friday Night Dinner', Reunites With Greg Daniels". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 4 February 2012.
15. Andreeva, Nellie (7 February 2012). "Allison Janney & Tony Shalhoub To Star in Greg Daniels' NBC Pilot 'Friday Night Dinner'". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 7 February 2012.
16. Nellie Andreeva (21 August 2014). "CBS Buys Adaptation Of British Comedy 'Friday Night Dinner' As Put Pilot". Deadline. Retrieved 4 April 2020.
17. Nellie Andreeva (30 August 2016). "CBS Developing New Adaptation Of UK Comedy Series 'Friday Night Dinner'". Deadline. Retrieved 4 April 2020.
18. Jeffery, Morgan (31 August 2016). "They're remaking Friday Night Dinner for the US – again". Digital Spy. Retrieved 4 April 2020.
19. White, Peter (13 July 2022). "Amazon Freevee Hands Straight-To-Series Order To U.S. Remake Of British Comedy 'Friday Night Dinner'". Deadline Hollywood.

External links

• Friday Night Dinner on Channel 4
• Friday Night Dinner at British Comedy Guide
• Friday Night Dinner at epguides.com
• Friday Night Dinner at IMDb

• 2011 British television series debuts
• 2020 British television series endings
• 2010s British black comedy television series
• 2020s British black comedy television series
• 2010s British sitcoms
• 2020s British sitcoms
• Channel 4 sitcoms
• English-language television shows
• Jewish comedy and humor
• Television series about brothers
• Television series about dysfunctional families
• Television series about Jews and Judaism
• Television series about marriage
• Television series by Big Talk Productions
• Television shows set in London