Set in a coastal Devon town

Dawn French is to star in a new ITV drama about the nosy resident of a small coastal town.

Glass Houses also stars other familiar comedy faces Mark Heap and Vicki Pepperdine  alongside Julie Hesmondhalgh and Patrick Robinson

Six hour-long episodes will go into production on location in South Devon this spring. 

French plays a character called Maggie Connors who is interviewed by a local radio station and gives far more detail - and embellishment – about the locals and their personal lives than she should.  

In the days and weeks following the broadcast, Maggie sees the Butterfly effect of how her public gossip affects figures around the town.

Friday Night Dinner star Heap plays Maggie’s headmaster husband Peter and Coronation Street’s Hesmondhalgh is Maggie’s best friend Jill. Pepperdine is school secretary Karen.  

Though billed as drama, the  series has been commissioned by ITV’s comedy controller Saskia Schuster. The broadcaster recently cancelled its last remaining comedies. 

She said: ‘Glass Houses is a new drama in the tradition of Doc Martin and The Darling Buds Of May, full of warmth and intriguing characters.  This new series will embrace its beautiful idyllic South Devon setting as we meet the villagers of Thurlbury and find out how an innocent afternoon spent indiscreetly gossiping has a domino effect on the whole village.’

French added: ‘It’s such a good story with a fantastic funny, touching script by Mark Brotherhood.  Let me at it!

Brotherhood previously worked on Benidorm and Sky’s Mount Pleasant.

Published: 1 Mar 2019