Playing an eccentric mum in Bucket

Miriam Margolyes is to star in a new four-part comedy series for BBC Four.

Bucket was written by and stars Frog Stone, who plays Fran, a reserved, high school history teacher in a rut. Margolyes plays her madcap mum Mim, an eccentric free spirit.

When Mim reveals she is dying and wants to tick items off her preposterous bucket list, Fran feels that she has no choice but to come along for the ride. 

Shane Allen, the BBC’s controller of  comedy commissioning, said: ‘Miriam Margolyes gives her comedy masterclass in growing old disgracefully. This is a raucous, ribald and irreverent charting of the mother-daughter dynamic, laced with tenderness and truth throughout. 

‘It turns every stock cliché of the sitcom mum on its head and tells it like it really is. Miriam is a force of nature whose eccentric essence buzzes on screen and Frog brings it all to life with a brutal honesty. It’s a quintessential BBC Four comedy that is at times hilarious and by turns very moving.’

And Cassian Harrison, channel editor of BBC Four added: ‘In this spiky yet always affectionate journey through the trials and tribulations of old age we look forward to welcoming one of Britain’s greatest acting talents back to the small screen.’

Stone is a former Cambridge Footlighter who has written for the News Quiz, Man Stroke Woman and Mitchell and Webb.

Published: 17 Nov 2016