Matt Berry will be back on Channel 4

Channel 4 has confirmed the second series of Matt Berry’s Victorian police comedy Year of the Rabbit. 

Chortle first reported that the show was returning as long ago as last summer, but today the broadcaster has finally officially announced the news.

Co-stars Freddie Fox and Susan Wokoma will also return for the second series of six half-hour episodes as officers on the tail of criminal mastermind Lydia (Keeley Hawey)

Berry, who also writes the show with Andy Riley and Kevin Cecil, said: ‘I’m looking forward to Inspector Rabbit returning back to our screens to fight crime in the past. 

‘This time he’ll deal with all sorts of unearthly forces, including the Royal Family. Victorian London is presently very much where it’s at.'

The first series aired last summer, with the first episode attracting 660,000 according to overnight ratings, a modest figure but outperforming Berry's previous Channel 4 vehicle, Toast Of London. 

It was also praised by critics. Radio Times said 'never has extreme physical violence and brutal murder been so hilarious'; Chortle said it 'is about as subtle as a bonk on the nogging with a truncheon, but that’s its strength - that it has so much swagger about its own extravagances' and the Independent said: 'Matt Berry is in superb form as drunken and incompetent copper'.

 But the Guardian was a little more cagey, saying that while it could be funny, the show also ' seems to revel in its own slapdashery.'

In renewing the series, Fiona McDermott, head of comedy at Channel 4, added: ‘Year of the Rabbit is one of the most glorious, gutsy and audacious comedies on TV, made by a fantastic cast and crew who relish every detail. We're thrilled to welcome it back. Here's to more absurd capers in the dark underbelly of Victorian London.’

Made by: Objective Fiction
Directed by: Andrew Chaplin
Written by: Matt Berry, Andy Riley and Kevin Cecil
Executive producers: Ben Farrell, Ben Taylor, Toby Stevens
Producer: Hannah Mackay
Commissioned by: Fiona McDermott, Channel 4’s head of comedy, and commissioning editor Jon Petrie

Published: 11 Feb 2020