Nation.Cymru staff
A number of star names have been revealed for the new comedy drama from Gavin and Stacey writers Ruth Jones and James Corden.
Apple TV comedy The Choir features the Gavin & Stacey co-creators playing siblings who haven’t seen each other for several years.
Hannah Waddingham, James McAvoy and Jim Broadbent will guest star in the show which has a large ensemble cast including Tom Davis, Jason Watkins, Emily Lloyd-Saini, Rosie Sheehy, Susan Brown, David Harewood, Alexandria Riley, Sylvestra Le Touzel, Tom Edden, Gary Lamont, Stephen Leask, Luiis Rouf, Jo Foster, Evie Jones and Farrah Abbassy.
The Choir marks the multi-award-winning writers and stars’ first project together since the record-breaking Gavin & Stacey: The Finale. Jones and Corden also serve as executive producers on the series, now in production and set to premiere globally on Apple TV in 2027.
Brother and sister Ben (Corden) and Lisa (Jones) haven’t seen each other for several years. Ben has been living abroad, while Lisa has carried on in their small English town, where nothing ever happens. But when events take a sorry turn, Ben is forced to return to a life he never wanted, a town he never liked and a family from which he’s estranged. Can the unlikely healing of a rift with his big sister come in the form of a struggling local choir and the ensemble who sing their hearts out each week?
The series is produced for Apple TV by Various Artists Limited and TidyTwo with Phil Clarke, Jack Bayles, Jones and Corden serving as executive producers, and BAFTA Award nominees Jennifer Sheridan (“The Other Bennet Sister”) and Jim Archer (“Big Boys”) set to direct.
Ruth Jones recently finished filming on heartfelt new Welsh BBC comedy, Better Later, co-starring and co-written by Ruth Jones and Steve Speirs.
Commissioned from BBC Cymru Wales and BBC Comedy and made by Tidy Productions in association with BBC Studios Comedy, with support from Creative Wales, the series looks at the unexpected joys of an unlikely friendship.
Better Later is centred on the relationship between two people who meet at a knee trauma clinic; retired teacher Clive (Speirs) is 60 and widowed and environmental health officer Shelley Anne (Jones) is 55 and going through a bitter divorce.
The series is filmed in and around South Wales including Bannau Brycheiniog and is set in a fictional village called ‘Brynfach’.
Ruth Jones says: “In a funny way this show has been 35 years in the making, which is when I first met Steve. It’s not that we’re slow writers it’s just that we’ve been up to other things. It’s fantastic to be back in front of the camera with him again.”
Steve Speirs says: “Our first time acting together for quite a long time, Ruth makes me laugh more than anyone and I’m a terrible giggler. This could be a long shoot.”
Transmission details for Better Later will be announced in due course.
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