BBC confirms recommission

BBC Two has officially confirmed that Boy Meets Girls will be returning for a second series later this year.

The news comes three months after stars Rebecca Root, Denise Welch and Jonny Dixon let the news slip on Twitter – before their tweets were quickly deleted.

Ratings for the comedy about an romance between a transexual woman and a younger man started at a respectable 1.5 million viewers, which slipped to 844,000 by the final episode of the first series.

Shane Allen, the BBC’s controller of comedy commissioning hailed ‘a welcome return for this warm-hearted love story with a twist’.

He said: ‘This series demonstrates comedy’s unique ability to bring insight, warmth and understanding to challenging subjects, and encapsulates the three bedrocks of the BBC’s duty to inform, educate and entertain. 

‘Expect lots more out and out bawdy comedy alongside some very tender and touching moments in this very modern take on a rom-com."

Kim Shillinglaw, the outgoing controller of BBC Two, added: ‘Comedy is central to BBC Two's DNA, and I want the channel to be a place where writers and creatives can do their most distinctive work. Boy Meets Girl was created from the heart and I’m so pleased that [writers] Elliott Kerrigan, Simon Carlyle and all the team behind this fabulous series are returning for another one. 

‘Boy Meets Girl ventured into territory that classic sitcom has never seen before in Britain, but did it with a warmth and an authenticity that BBC Two viewers really responded to.’

The series recently won the Trans Media Award at the Stonewall Awards; and production is due to start on the second season in Manchester next month.

Critical reception for series one was broadly positive, with the Guardian describing it as ‘warm, witty and likeable’ and Root as ‘a star-in-the-making’ But the Daily Mail felt that the series had ‘given up all pretence at being a sitcom. It’s simply an instruction manual on what to say, think and feel about sex changes’.

Boy Meets Girl series two will be produced by Paul McKenzie for Tiger Aspect and directed by Paul Norton Walker. The executive producers are Sophie Clarke-Jervoise and Margot Gavan Duffy.

Published: 19 Jan 2016