'Worst Week' set to be a stage show

Creators working on a comeback

BBC One sitcom The Worst Week of My Life could be heading for a comeback – but as a stage play.

Creators Mark Bussell and Justin Sbresni are working on a script, and have approached original star Ben Miller about reprising his role as the hapless groom-to-be Howard.

They are said to have come up with the idea after seeing Miller in the West End version of The Ladykillers.

Bussell told Radio 4’s Front Row: ‘There’s some talk at the moment about doing a stage play, which would be the prequel of the television series, so we would see that moment when Howard meets his prospective father-in-law for the first time.

‘We would love to do in on television again, but it might well be that the stage version happens first.’

And appearing on the same show last night, Miller said: ‘I’m delighted to hear that; not least because I’ve been badgering them to do something like that for such a long time and I think, uniquely, The Worst Week of My Life would make a fantastic stage play.

‘It’s set in the same place. It’s farce; it’s a great character farce, so I’m hopeful that they are writing as they say they are, and that I’ll see something soon.’

Bussell and Sbresni – who were interviewed to promote their new ITV series Great Night Out – also said they might be making an Italian film inspired by the series, to be themed around The Worst Holiday Of My Life.

‘[It] was an idea we thought we might do here as well,’ they told interviewer Mark Lawson.

The original show also starred Sarah Alexander, Alison Steadman and Geoffrey Whitehead and ran for three series from 2004 to 2006. It has spawned American, German and French remakes, as well as two previous Italian films.

Published: 9 Jan 2013

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