Friday Night Dinner

Friday Night Dinner

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.[1] The comedy is focused on the regular dinner experience of the British Jewish Goodman family every Friday night. It began airing on 25 February 2011 on Channel 4. The fifth series concluded on 8 June 2018. The show received two BAFTA nominations in 2012. The first series was nominated for Best Situation Comedy, while Tamsin Greig was nominated for Best Female Comedy Performance.

On 13 May 2019, Channel 4 confirmed that the show would return for a sixth series, which will begin broadcasting on 27 March and conclude on 1 May 2020.

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.[2] It is set in suburban North London, and filmed there, in Mill Hill.[3] The family consists of mother Jackie Goodman (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. Most frequently, it is disrupted by Adam and Jonny pranking each other, Martin's oddities and their strange neighbour Jim Bell (Mark Heap), who is attracted to Jackie. Jackie's best friend, Valerie "Auntie Val" Lewis (Tracy-Ann Oberman), is also a frequent visitor, as was Jackie's mother, Eleanor "Nelly" Buller (Frances Cuka). Martin's mother, Cynthia Goodman (Rosalind Knight), referred to as "Horrible Grandma", is an occasional guest to the Goodman household.

Cast and characters

Main characters

Tamsin Greig as Jacqueline "Jackie" Goodman, the mother of the family.

Paul Ritter as Martin Goodman, the father of the family.

Simon Bird as Adam Goodman, the eldest son of the family.

Tom Rosenthal as Jonathan "Jonny" Goodman, the younger son.

Mark Heap as Jim Bell, the Goodmans' bizarre neighbour

Recurring

Frances Cuka as Eleanor "Nelly" Buller, the mother of Jackie Goodman and sometimes comes over to join the family for Friday Night Dinner.

Tracy-Ann Oberman as Valerie 'Val' Lewis, Jackie's neurotic best friend and known as 'Auntie Val' to the boys.

Rosalind Knight as Cynthia Goodman, Martin's mother who is known by the family as Horrible Grandma.

American remake

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.[4] The remake was picked up for a pilot, written by Daniels and directed by Ken Kwapis[5] and starring Allison Janney and Tony Shalhoub as the mother and father.[6] The pilot did not go to series.