As a 'fish out of water' in LA

Rob Brydon is to pilot for his own comedy series for acclaimed American cable network HBO.

In the half-hour sitcom – which has the working title The Valleys – Brydon will star as a Welshman as a ‘fish out of water’ in Los Angeles.

Julian Farino, the Brit who directed the first three series of Entourage, is developing the show with Brydon. He told Broadcast that the comic will play a character rather than a fictionalised version of himself, but use ‘his talents as a singer and an improviser’.

‘We share an agent in LA and had some casual meetings before Rob added the Welsh dimension,’ he told the trade magazine.

The title has deliberate echoes of both Wales and Los Angeles – but is unfortunately also the same as MTV’s latest regional reality series, set among the youngsters of South Wales.

Stephen Merchant is working on a similar idea for HBO, entitled Hello, Ladies, in which he plays an awkward Englishman trying to find a relationship – despite being nowhere near as suave as he thinks he is.

Published: 4 Oct 2012