''Mutual Friends'' is a British comedy drama television series broadcast in six episodes on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's Flagship (broadcasting), flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News ...

in from 26 August until 30 September 2008. The series starred

Marc Warren Marc Warren (born 20 March 1967) is an English actor, known for his British television roles. His roles have included Albert Blithe in '' Band of Brothers'', Danny Blue in ''Hustle'', Dougie Raymond in ''The Vice'', Dominic Foy in '' State ...

Alexander Armstrong Alexander Henry Fenwick Armstrong (born 2 March 1970) is an English actor, comedian, radio personality, television presenter and singer. He is the host of the BBC One game show '' Pointless'', as well as the morning show on Classic FM. He is ...

Keeley Hawes Claire Julia Hawes (born 10 February 1976), known professionally as Keeley Hawes, is an English actress. After beginning her career in a number of literary adaptations, including '' Our Mutual Friend'' (1998) and '' Tipping the Velvet'' (2002), H ...

Sarah Alexander Sarah Alexander (''née'' Smith; 3 January 1971) is an English actress. She has appeared in British series including '' Armstrong and Miller'', '' Smack the Pony'', ''Coupling'', '' The Worst Week of My Life'', ''Green Wing'', '' Marley's Ghos ...

, Claire Rushbrook, Emily Joyce, Naomi Bentley and Joshua Sarphie as a group of old friends whose lives are thrown into chaos when one of their group commits suicide.

Synopsis

Marc Warren depicts a terminally useless solicitor Martin, whose life as a lawyer, husband to Jen (

) and father to Dan (Joshua Sarphie) is thrown into turmoil as a consequence of his friends' various mid-life crises, starting with the suicide of his best friend Karl, who was guilt-ridden following his affair with Jen. Martin's other best friend, the suave, unreliable chancer Patrick (Alexander Armstrong), throws the situation into more chaos.

Cast

Series cast summary:

as Martin Grantham - 6 episodes, 2008

as Jen Grantham - 6 episodes, 2008

as Patrick Turner - 6 episodes, 2008 Claire Rushbrook as Leigh Cato - 6 episodes, 2008 Joshua Sarphie as Dan Grantham - 6 episodes, 2008

as Liz - 6 episodes, 2008

Rhashan Stone Rhashan Stone is an American actor and comedian based in the UK. He is best known for appearing in many comedy shows such as ''Desmond's'' and '' Mutual Friends''. Stone is also a stage actor who has performed in numerous productions for The Ro ...

as Dev - 6 episodes, 2008 Naomi Bentley as Anita - 6 episodes, 2008

Lee Ross Lee David Ross (August 25, 1942 – May 14, 2021) was a Canadian-American professor. He held the title of the Stanford Federal Credit Union Professor of Humanities and Sciences at Stanford University and was an influential social psychologist wh ...

as Harry Seed - 6 episodes, 2008 Emily Joyce as Sarah - 6 episodes, 2008

Alistair Petrie Alistair Petrie (born 30 September 1970) is a British actor. He has starred in '' The Bank Job'' (2008), '' Cloud Atlas'' (2012), '' Rush'' (2013) and '' Rogue One: A Star Wars Story'' (2016). Petrie has also starred in the Channel 4 televisio ...

as Carl Cato - 4 episodes, 2008 Thomas Byrne as Conor Cato - 4 episodes, 2008

Patric Knowles Reginald Lawrence Knowles (11 November 1911 – 23 December 1995), better known as Patric Knowles, was an English film actor. Born in Horsforth, West Riding of Yorkshire, he made his film debut in 1932, and played either first or second fi ...

as James - 3 episodes, 2008 Ruben Crow as Tom - 2 episodes, 2008 Paul Thornley as Darren - 2 episodes, 2008

Karen Paullada Karen Paullada is a Welsh actress who has worked extensively in television and theatre roles. She is best known for playing Nadine in the Sky1 TV comedy drama series Stella Stella or STELLA may refer to: Art, entertainment, and media Comedy ...

as Policewoman - 2 episodes, 2008

Episodes

Production

Most of the show was filmed in Henley. Filming for the court scene in episode two was filmed in

Bracknell Bracknell () is a large town and civil parish in Berkshire, England, the westernmost area within the Greater London Urban Area and the administrative centre of the Borough of Bracknell Forest. It lies to the east of Reading, south of Maidenhe ...

in the summer of 2008 at Bracknell's police station. The series was not recommissioned by the BBC due to low ratings. Anil Gupta also attributed the demise of the series to the departure of

Peter Fincham Peter Arthur Fincham (born 26 July 1956) is a British television producer and executive. From 2008 until 2016, he was the Director of Television for the ITV network. He was also formerly the Controller of BBC One, the primary television channe ...

, the controller of BBC One, in 2008.

Reception

The series was nominated for Best TV Comedy Drama at the

British Comedy Awards The National Comedy Awards (known as the British Comedy Awards from 1990 to 2014) is an annual awards ceremony in the United Kingdom, celebrating notable comedians and entertainment performances of the previous year. The British Comedy Awards (1 ...

2008.The Nominees 2008
British Comedy Awards. Retrieved 1 May 2009.

DVD release

The series has been released on a two-disc DVD set by 2 Entertain.

References

External links

*
Official press release
at BBC Press Office * * 2008 British television series debuts 2008 British television series endings BBC television dramas British television miniseries English-language television shows British comedy-drama television shows Television series by Hat Trick Productions Television shows set in Oxfordshire 2000s British drama television series Films directed by Catherine Morshead {{BBC-tv-prog-stub