Working again with Matilda co-writer Dennis Kelly

Pulling creators Sharon Horgan and Dennis Kelly are reuniting after a decade for a new Channel 4 pilot.

The Circuit is a comedy about a series of disastrous dinner parties.

Four Lions star Adeel Akhtar and Brooklyn's Eva Birtwhistle star as Gabe and Nat, a couple who've left their wonderful old life and moved to an area where the people seem to oscillate between highly-strung and psychopathic.

Girls' Desiree Akhavan and Nicola Walker are Angie and Marty, the other couple invited to the dinner party from hell hosted by their neighbours, Helene and Sasha, played by Victoria Hamilton and Tobias Menzies, who portrayed the offhand Dr Harries in Catastrophe. Paul Ready also stars as Danny.

The pilot is directed by Ben Taylor, who helmed both series of Catastrophe on Channel 4 and recently shot Horgan's HBO series Divorce in New York starring Sarah Jessica Parker.

Horgan and Kelly, who are executive producing, said: 'It has taken just 10 short years for us to agree to work together again. It was a mistake.'

The commission for Merman Films is the latest in a prolific period for the production company set up by Horgan and producer Clelia Mountford in 2014.

Last week it was announced that BBC Two had commissioned their pilot Motherland, about navigating middle-class motherhood, written by Horgan with Holly Walsh, Graham Linehan and his wife Helen, and last month that Merman had signed a three-year, first-look deal with Sky Vision.

Catastrophe won best comedy and best writers for Horgan and Rob Delaney at last week's Broadcasting Press Guild Awards, while Merman's revived third series of The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret looks set to return to UK screens soon, after the first two series aired on More 4.

Mountford, The Circuit's producer and Merman's managing director, said: 'We’re delighted to be working with Channel 4 on the longest dinner party ever. We just hope they’ll bring the wine.'

Phil Clarke, Channel 4’s head of comedy, added: 'The pitch for The Circuit was irresistible. The premise - that everyone hates going to dinner parties but goes anyway - is a great starting place for a comedy. 

'Plus, the prospect of a script from Sharon Horgan and Dennis Kelly, writing together again for the first time since Pulling, was incredibly exciting. The script didn't disappoint, and I am delighted that we are now making a pilot.'

The Circuit is the first collaboration that Horgan and Kelly, who co-wrote the Matilda musical with Tim Minchin, have worked on since Pulling was cancelled in 2007.

Running for two series on BBC Three, the sitcom, which starred Horgan, Tanya Franks, Rebekah Staton as single Londoners, was critically acclaimed, attracting awards and good ratings but not renewed, which led Kelly to claim that he and Horgan 'cried and threw ourselves at [the BBC's] feet' pleading for another series.

- by Jay Richardson

Published: 14 Mar 2016