The hit comedy will see Gemma Arterton return as TV comedy star Sophie Straw.
Today at the Edinburgh Television Festival, it was announced that Sky Max's hit comedy Funny Woman will be returning for a second series.
In the first series of Funny Woman, based on Nick Hornby’s bestselling novel, Funny Girl, Gemma Arterton starred as Barbara Parker, the force of nature who takes London by storm in this new comedy for Sky Comedy about a young woman from Blackpool finding her comic voice in the male-dominated world of the 1960s sitcom.
It’s the height of the swinging 60s and Barbara Parker has just been crowned Miss Blackpool, but there’s got to be more to life than being a beauty queen in a seaside town, right? She wants to be… someone. The bright lights of London are calling, and our determined hero sets off to find out who that someone is.
The London she encounters is not as quite as swinging as the one she’d read about and seen on TV. However, after a series of setbacks, Barbara finds herself in unfamiliar territory - an audition for a TV comedy show.
Barbara’s uncompromising northern wit proves to be the X factor that the show has been missing. She gets the part and becomes part of a ground-breaking new sitcom that will have an impact on British comedy for decades to come.
Being a woman in a largely male environment has its own challenges, but as Barbara ‘finds her funny’ she re-defines the prevailing attitude to funny women and in the process, reinvents herself.
After Barbara realised her dream and became TV comedy star, Sophie Straw, the nation’s favourite, series two will find Sophie discovering that ‘having a voice’ doesn’t mean it will be heard and that fame is a fickle friend.
Fed up with being the comic muse in old-school comedy shows, Sophie tries her hand at arthouse cinema hoping it will be more progressive – it isn’t!
Undeterred, Sophie decides to create her own comedy show where she can tell authentic stories in all their messy and hilarious glory. She’s found her voice, and no one can stop her from using it! She learns that the power is in the word.
Produced by Potboiler and Rebel Park Productions, in association with Sky Studios, Funny Woman is written by Morwenna Banks, directed by Olivia Parker and executive produced by Nick Hornby, Gemma Arterton, Andrea Calderwood, Gail Egan, Jessica Parker and Jessica Malik.
Funny Woman will return in 2024 on Sky Max