High hopes for new television sitcom
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Eddie Andrews aka Jimmy Riddle, Mike Eastman aka Jack Maybre, Keith Whitehouse aka Illegal Immigrant Enoch Lactavitch and Chris Hipkiss as Sgt Rowbottom. Picture by Jon Mullis. 48.011.052.cov.jm1
30 November. Updated: 01 December 10:23
ACTOR, writer and director Jimmy Riddle is confident his latest sitcom will help put Coventry firmly on the TV map.
The 51-year-old, who grew up in Potters Green, has recently finished filming Weedkillers with the help of friends and his contacts within the industry.
Jimmy has written, produced and played a key role in the comedy, said: “I believe it will be the first to have been written and produced in Coventry which I am very proud.
“Over the next few years the BBC will be launching local TV channels so hopefully they will take interest and we can go on making more.
“The ultimate goal is for the pilot episode to be successfully aired and further episodes to be commissioned.”
Weedkillers - the third sitcom written by Jimmy - has its roots embedded in traditional British family comedy.
It is based around a self-employed gardener, Eddie Andrew, played by Jimmy, and his fellow worker, Enoch Lactavich, who both interact with the inhabitants of a small English village.
Jimmy, who plays a paramedic in the BBC drama Doctors, was heavily influenced by programmes such as Last of the Summer Wine and the Carry On films while writing the sitcom, which provided plenty of laughs throughout filming.
And he is hopeful it will prove to be a success after being distributed to a host of television stations.
“This is the third sitcom I have written in the last four years,” he told the Observer.
“We all had a good time making it but it was hard work.
“Writing, directing and acting can take it out of you but if it’s a success it will be all worthwhile.
“There doesn’t seem to be any sitcoms for people over the age of 50, so I wanted to create a sitcom for people of that age group while highlighting the untapped talent within the West Midlands of actors, writers and directors.”
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