Sitcom writer recalls the devastating effects of penning a much-panned comedy

The writer behind one of the most slated sitcoms in recent times has told of the ‘horrendous’ abuse he received – including death threats.

Jimmy Donny Cosgrove co-created Warren, a comedy starring Martin Clunes as a grumpy driving instructor, which aired in a primetime BBC One slot in 2019.

But it was critically eviscerated, with the i newspaper saying it 'lacked wit, empathy and heart' and the Telegraph calling it 'the final nail in the coffin for British sitcom’, alongside even harsher comments online.

Now Cosgrove – who has not written for TV since the mauling – has revealed how the backlash affected him, and called on viewers to be more moderate when slating shows they dislike.

Speaking on The Modern Mann podcast, he told how he saw social media messages, saying: ‘Who are these writers? I'm going to drown them. Clunes deserves better’. 

More worryingly he received 'death threats to my email, people found my email and emailed me directly. For a joke about asbestos, really strange things that I didn't deserve.’

The comments were in response to a scene in which Warren tries to dump some of the cancer-causing material in the countryside – a moment intended to indicate that the character is ‘a bit of a knob’, in Cosgrove’s words.

But it prompted one irate viewer to write: 'Asbestos isn't funny, if you knew anything about comedy. If I find out where you live, you'll die'.

When the scathing reviews and online hatred started, 'I cried a lot of times in that first few weeks. I really did. I mean, it truly was absolutely horrendous, humiliating' Cosgrove told podcast host Olly Mann. 'I just felt I didn't deserve it. I just felt I'd worked so hard and all they've seen is this end product.’

Cosgrove had no writing credits when he teamed up with the slightly more established Paul McKenna to write Warren. McKenna had worked on the Greg Davies sitcom Cuckoo and the 2015 Comedy Central series Brotherhood.

Warren had originated in an online short starring Cosgrove as a character based on a combination of his bad-tempered driving instructor and his father. McKenna shared the film with production company Hat Trick, who commissioned a pilot script which was then picked up by the BBC as a vehicle for Clunes.

Originally the sitcom was supposed to be ‘naturalistic’ and take place entirely in a car. But the broadcast of Peter Kay's Car Share put paid to that idea. And Cosgrove wanted to keep the main role for himself.

‘[Clunes] loved it. It reminded him of a sitcom that he watched when he was younger' Cosgrove recalled. 'I thought if we're going to get anyone in to do it, let's get a superstar, a British superstar.'

But while he felt it was ‘really cool being on set’, he felt the finished  show was ‘over-produced'.

'I stand by those scripts,’ he said. ‘But I'm not sure if I stand by the final product … those scripts you could have done something with them and make a very watchable BBC One sitcom that could have run and run maybe? I still feel hard done by this.’

Recalling conversations behind the scenes about the way production was going, he said: ‘I'd say, "Well, that's not quite right." And someone said "pick your battles". 

‘But I could have picked a battle at every scene, every line. Because you really feel it's my baby… I know how every line should be said to get the best laugh.'

‘Ultimately, my opinion doesn't matter,’ he concluded. ‘We had a brilliant cast. They do what they want to do because that's why they're who they are. So I found the whole process quite difficult… it felt a cruel process.

'At the end, I'd often say, "Oh, this isn't quite right: and I would be met with, "OK, thanks for letting us know". The wheel was rolling down the hill. I was either in the wheel rolling down with it, or I was going to watch it roll down the hill.

'Every time you get notes back, it becomes a watered-down version of it. And that's because that's their job, to try and make it the best they can. No one's trying to mess up your show. But ultimately, it goes from you to the production company, and then it goes to your colleague, and then it goes to your boss, and then it comes back, then it goes to the director and their colleague and their boss, and it comes back. Everybody's pulling in a different direction.’

Almost six million viewers watched the opening episode but the audience had more than halved for the second.

The experience has left Cosgrove with a message for critical viewers. ‘If anyone would take anything from this, it's when you watch something you don't like… don't blame the writer completely. It's their fault. But it's a big old process. It's a big old machine that it goes through, goes into that washing machine, and all it takes is one red sock to ruin the whole wash.’

On Warren, he said that had he had his way ‘I would have put it in front of a live studio audience’, He also said that the final production didn't get the character's 'voice' right, adding that they could have 'softened it all up', perhaps with more appropriate casting.

Clunes is 'a big bloke. And it's scary when he's shouting at a 17-year-old. Yes, he was an incredible actor and a wonderful man. But visually, maybe, he was wrong.'

The writer also recalled how his 'heart fell out of my arse' when he learned that Warren was going to air in the primetime slot before This Time with Alan Partridge, the series that marked Steve Coogan's character's return to the BBC for the first time in 15 years.

He also told how he McKenna 'ended up rowing quite a lot'. But they 'would always make up very quickly'. And both 'were quite poorly mentally' after four years working on the doomed project.

Cosgrove was dropped by his agent two weeks after learning that Warren wasn't getting recommissioned, though Hat Trick subsequently ordered another script from him, – Dan, Sam And Nan, about three generations of a family –  but he says: 'I think it was a sympathy commission.’ And he couldn't get any actors attached to it.

He now runs a gameshow experience for a team-building exercise company. But he recently met up with Hat Trick owner Jimmy Mulville. 'He's really nice,’ Cosgrove related. 'He said: "You know, I was worried about you after Warren". And it was nice that they were thinking about us at the time.'

Warren did at least receive a four-star review in The Daily Mail. And it is currently available on Amazon Prime in the UK, with Cosgrove disclosing that he is occasionally contacted by families with autistic children to thank him, a demographic that the sitcom has unintentionally catered for.

'I've no idea what it is. Maybe it's because Warren's rude? I get a lot of these messages. "My son is disabled and he loved it". They find me on Instagram. I probably get a couple a year. That's nice.’

- by Jay Richardson

• Listen to the full episode of The Modern Mann podcast here.

Published: 15 Nov 2025