Starring Joel McHale

E4 has picked up the rights to air  American comedy series Animal Control.

The show stars Community’s Joe McHale as Frank Shaw, an emotionally-distant animal control officer, bitter over losing his old job as a cop after a failed attempt at exposing corruption.

Twelve episodes ran on America’s Fox network earlier this year and it has been commissioned for a second series. Season one  started with just over two million viewers and ended with one million, and scored 60 per cent on review aggregate website Metacritic.

Channel 4’s head of acquisitions, Nick Lee, described the show as ‘fresh and clever comedy with a stellar cast’.

Tony Vassiliadis, of distributors Fox  Entertainment Global  added ‘Animal Control’s fresh and unique take on the workplace comedy propelled it to become an instant hit for Fox in the US.

‘Joel McHale’s brilliant portrayal of Frank, together with the entire cast’s unmistakable chemistry, have not gone unnoticed by buyers who appreciate cleverly written comedies with bold characters and relatable stories to a global audience. 

‘We are thrilled to have E4 serve as the UK home for Animal Control.’

The series has already been sold to  Fox8 and Binge in Australia, CBC Gem in Canada and TVNZ in New Zealand.

However it was criticised by animal welfare group Peta for using real animals during filming, calling it 'sickening soup of animal exploitation’.

Their director of captive animal welfare, Debbie Metzler, said McHale – who is also an executive producer ‘either doesn't know or doesn't care that it's 2023 and that CGI, VFX, and other humane forms of technology should be used, instead of dragging abused animals on to TV and film sets.’

Animal Control’s cast also includes Vella Lovell, Ravi Patel, Grace Palmer, Alvina August, Kelli Ogmundson, Gerry Dee  and newcomer Michael Rowland.

Published: 23 Oct 2023