''Boy Meets Girl'' is a
BBC Two sitcom
A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ...
starring
Rebecca Root
Rebecca, ; Syriac: , ) from the Hebrew (lit., 'connection'), from Semitic root , 'to tie, couple or join', 'to secure', or 'to snare') () appears in the Hebrew Bible as the wife of Isaac and the mother of Jacob and Esau. According to biblical ...
,
Harry Hepple and
Denise Welch
Jacqueline Denise Welch (born 22 May 1958) is an English actress, television personality, writer and broadcaster. Her roles include Natalie Barnes in ''Coronation Street'' (1997–2000), Steph Haydock in '' Waterloo Road'' (2006–2010), and ...
. It tells the story of the developing relationship between 26-year-old Leo (Hepple) and 40-year-old Judy (Root).
The script, by Elliott Kerrigan, was discovered through the Trans Comedy Award, a 2013 BBC talent search for scripts with positive portrayals of
transgender
A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through ...
characters.
Both Root and her character Judy are transgender, making this the first BBC comedy to feature transgender issues prominently, and the first sitcom to star a transgender actor. Sophie Clarke-Jervoise, the executive producer, stated "we always knew we had to get a trans actress – I don't think we auditioned anyone who wasn't trans for the role. It just didn't feel right."
The first series of six episodes aired between 3 September and 8 October 2015. A second and final series began airing from 6 July to 4 August 2016.
It comprises six episodes.
Episodes
Background and production
In January 2012,
All About Trans organized an event, "Trans Camp", involving people from the trans community and media, and aiming to help the media provide accurate depictions of transgender people.
Off the back of this, the BBC ran a talent search later that year, the Trans Comedy Award, offering comedy writers up to £5000 for scripts with positive portrayals of transgender characters.
The BBC received 320 script entries, with the winners being ''Boy Meets Girl'' (then titled ''Love'') by Elliott Kerrigan and ''Nobody's Perfect'' by Tom Glover.
''Boy Meets Girl'' was created by Elliott Kerrigan, and written by Kerrigan, Simon Carlyle, and Andrew Mettam. It stars
Rebecca Root
Rebecca, ; Syriac: , ) from the Hebrew (lit., 'connection'), from Semitic root , 'to tie, couple or join', 'to secure', or 'to snare') () appears in the Hebrew Bible as the wife of Isaac and the mother of Jacob and Esau. According to biblical ...
as Judy,
Harry Hepple as Leo,
Denise Welch
Jacqueline Denise Welch (born 22 May 1958) is an English actress, television personality, writer and broadcaster. Her roles include Natalie Barnes in ''Coronation Street'' (1997–2000), Steph Haydock in '' Waterloo Road'' (2006–2010), and ...
as Pam (Leo's mother). Also appearing are
Janine Duvitski
Janine Duvitski (born Christine Janine Drzewicki; 28 June 1952) is a British actress, known for her roles in the BBC television sitcom series '' Waiting for God'', ''One Foot in the Grave'' and ''Benidorm''. Duvitski first came to national atte ...
,
Nigel Betts
Nigel Betts is an English actor, who from 2003 to 2007 appeared on the ITV soap opera ''Emmerdale'' as Eddie Hope. He also portrayed Tony in the BBC Two sitcom '' Boy Meets Girl'' and had a recurring role as Mr Armitage in the eighth series o ...
,
Lizzie Roper
Lizzie Roper (born 1967) is a British actress.
Career
Trained at the Guildford School of Acting after gaining a degree in drama from Aberystwyth University. Lizzie fell into Comedy whilst performing with Lenny Beige at The Regency Rooms as Sad ...
, and
Jonny Dixon. It is directed by Paul Walker. The producer is Margot Gavan Duffy, and the executive producers are Sophie Clarke-Jervoise for
Tiger Aspect
Tiger Aspect Productions (formerly known as Tiger Television from 1988 until 1993 and also known as Tiger Aspect Films for theatrical films) is a British television and film production company, particularly noted for its situation comedies. Fo ...
and Kristian Smith for the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
.
A pilot episode was shown at the BBC's Salford Sitcom Showcase in March 2014, and the show was commissioned after that.
The main series acquired co-writers Simon Carlyle and Andrew Mettam, and had six 30-minute episodes (including the pilot episode with some re-shot scenes) set and recorded in
.
.
After the pilot episode aired, ''The Independent'' compared ''Boy Meets Girl'' to ''
'', an award-winning BBC comedy from 2007–2010, a comparison the BBC had said they were looking to make.
wrote in ''The Guardian'' "About bloody time" and "It's great to see trans folk bringing authenticity to roles ...
is at its best when it helps us to understand a complex and often cruel world by laughing at our own, previously unexamined, prejudices. I haven't seen Boy Meets Girl yet, but it has already put a smile on my face."
Jasper Rees in the newspaper ''The Telegraph'' was rather less impressed, describing the show as "packaged in a demoralisingly traditional form of comedy".
* – Blog entry by the series' creator in the BBC Writers Room blog.
* – Background from one of the organizations involved with the initial script writing competition on the process of getting the show made.
* – Blog entry by one of the show's stars on the creation process.
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