A 'shamelessly raw' series

Channel 4 has commissioned a new sitcom based around bisexual dating.

The Bisexual  has been created by Iranian-American film-maker, writer and actress Desiree Akhavan, who will also star.

Channel 4 describes the show as ‘a painfully hilarious look at the difference of dating men and women from the perspective of a person who finds herself doing both’ and said it was ‘brimming with weird and wonky slices of urban life’.

Akhavan plays New Yorker Leila, who is feeling lost in London having split from her girlfriend Sadie. She ends up sharing a house with the naive Gabe, giving her new experience of hanging out with heterosexuals.

The Bisexual was commissioned for Channel 4 by Nerys Evans, deputy head of comedy, who said: ‘We are thrilled to be working with Desiree. She has such a brilliantly unique viewpoint on finding love in your 30s. 

‘We love her candid observations, both on being an outsider in a strange city as well as the sexual politics encountered when you are neither straight nor gay. She’s honest, authentic and brilliantly funny in her delivery.’

And executive producer Naomi de Pear, added: ‘Desiree has got the kind of sureness of voice as a writer and director that’s rare in its honesty and hilarity. The Bisexual will be a shamelessly raw and questioning look at how people are exposed through their sex and relationships and the new rules, pitfalls and prejudices around that.’

Akhavan, who is writing the show with Cecilia Frugiuele, said producers Sister Pictures and Channel 4  were ‘the perfect partners in crime for a taboo sex comedy. And by that I mean they're all perverts’.

Published: 24 Aug 2016