Outcast writer quits UK to make a US sitcom

His stance on trans rights has made him a pariah in UK comedy – now Graham Linehan is moving to America to make a sitcom.

The Father Ted co-creator has announced that he is setting up a production company in Arizona with comedian turned GB News host Andrew Doyle.

Also on board are Deuce Bigalow star Rob Schneider, who has been widely criticised in the US for his anti-vax, anti-LGBT views, and Martin Gourlay, who produced John Cleese's ‘cancel culture’ series The Dinosaur Hour for GB News.

Linehan revealed he has written three episodes of the unnamed comedy, which he's hoping to shoot next year, in a ten-minute video posted to X with the title Big News.

The London-based writer, who also created The IT Crowd and wrote for Motherland and Black Books, said no one in UK broadcasting would employ him because of his views on trans rights, adding: ‘Freedom of speech is really in bad shape at the moment.'

On Elon Musk's platform, he attacked former colleagues as 'cowards' for not backing him in the 'gender wars', ensuring that his ‘masterpiece' –  the unstaged Father Ted musical – will likely never see the light of day.

Details of the new sitcom, Linehan's first since he stepped away from the Motherland writing team in 2019, are vague. But he believes it to be 'pretty damn good' and said 'the premise is strong'.

He claimed: 'It's not anti-woke comedy, which I think many people would be expecting because I think that's going to be as dead an end as the woke movement itself is, because all of this nonsense is going to seem out of date in a couple of years.

'So yeah, that's the news. I'm off! Whether it happens, whether it's a smooth ride or not is a different question. But we have two years to try. I've been visiting Arizona over the last year and I love it and it's very exciting to land in a new place, where I don't have any of the baggage that I have over here.'

He added that 'we're laughing a lot. And it's nice to get back to writing comedy again, no thanks to the UK entertainment industry'.

Although he will be returning to the UK periodically, while Stateside he would also be script editing 'a lot of opportunities' for Schneider. The comic was asked to leave the stage at a charity event in June for making reportedly 'transphobic, misogynistic and anti-vax jokes’. The charity immediately issued an ‘unconditional apology’ and distanced itself from his views.

Two weeks ago, Schneider posted in response to a Democrat-bating video posted by Katie Hopkins: 'Thank YOU, @KTHopkins and ALL my friends in (the Free Speech Impaired) Great Britain, I look forward to working with the brilliant author and comedian @andrewdoyle and brainy and hilarious Martin Gourlay and the incredible comic genius that is Graham Linehan in 2025!’

Linehan and Doyle have also been interviewed by the divisive Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson for an episode of his podcast released yesterday. Entitled Europe Imploding, its billing says the trio discuss ‘the woke epidemic which has made comedy a criminal offence in the United Kingdom’.

There was little talk of the mooted sitcom in the near two-hour discussion, beyond Doyle explaining that 'we never expected to be here, we're working on various projects’. He added that it 'sounds histrionic but I don't think we could have the kind of artistic freedom in the UK' to make them.

Linehan, who returned to the public eye performing stand-up at Doyle's Comedy Unleashed nights, also disclosed that he wrote his memoir Tough Crowd: How I Made And Lost A Career In Comedy, about his battles on trans rights issues for free, as his opinions are considered so toxic.

Published: 14 Dec 2024