Good news Bambinos! Channel 4 has confirmed that popular sitcom Friday Night Dinner will be returning for a sixth series in 2020.
Whilst comedian and actor Tom Rosenthal, who plays Jonny Goodman in the show, caused excitement online by tweeting (and swiftly deleting) the news last week, the show’s return was officially confirmed earlier today.
Written and produced by Robert Popper, Friday Night Dinner centres around the Goodman family – mum Jackie (Tamsin Greig), dad Martin (Paul Ritter), and brothers Adam and Jonny (Simon Bird and Rosenthal) – and their weekly Friday night dinners which are often interrupted by their eccentric neighbour Jim (Mark Heap) and his dog Wilson.
Speaking about the show’s return, Fiona McDermott, Head of Comedy at Channel 4, said: “We’re delighted that audiences love Friday Night Dinner as much as we do at Channel 4, and are thrilled that it will be returning. It’s always brilliant when audiences for a show grow over time and we’re thrilled that more and more people are falling in love with the Goodmans. We are so pleased to be making a new series with Robert and Big Talk Productions.”
Kenton Allen, Big Talk CEO added: “Friday Night Dinner has grown into a monster hit for Channel 4 and it’s incredibly exciting to see the audience growing every season as new viewers fall in love with the antics of the Goodman household. It’s also incredible that Robert has singlehandedly written and produced all 31 episodes so far, which must make him one of the most prolific comedy writer/producers working today. We’re incredibly grateful to Channel 4 for letting him have another go. Fingers crossed!”
But what exactly can we expect from series six of Friday Night Dinner, especially after THAT final episode? Writer and producer Popper jested a bizarre new route for the series, stating: “I’m really looking forward to exploring new avenues with series 6. Inspector de Vries (Paul Ritter) will still be working on the Rynsburger case, but this time he’s joined by new partner-in-crime, Mees Janssen (Tom Rosenthal), fresh out of Rotterdam Police Academy. Eva de Bruin (Tamsin Greig) is now trying to regain control of her pharmaceutical company, after an aggressive takeover-bid by the always-cunning Sem Teuling (Simon Bird). But can ‘Vos’ (Mark Heap) and his faithful dog, ‘de Welson’ save the day?”
The new six part series of Friday Night Dinner will be filmed later this year, and will make its way to our screens on Channel 4 in 2020.
Yet to catch up with the show? Check out series one to five on All4 now.