Hebburn (TV series)

Plot

The series follows the Pearson family, Joe (Vic Reeves, credited under his real name, Jim Moir) and Pauline (Gina McKee) and their son Jack (Chris Ramsey), who secretly married a middle-class Jewish girl, Sarah (Kimberley Nixon), in a drunken binge in Las Vegas.

Development and production

Hebburn was created by comic Jason Cook, inspired by Hebburn in South Tyneside, the town in which he was raised. It was piloted in October 2011 through a live performance as part of the Salford Sitcom Showcase at MediaCityUK. A six-part series was then commissioned by Channel X North and Steve Coogan’s production company Baby Cow Productions. Cook co-wrote the series with Graham Duff, who had written the sitcom Ideal.

Chris Ramsey, a comic from South Shields, was cast to play Jack Pearson, with Kimberley Nixon as his new wife, Sarah. Vic Reeves (credited under his real name, Jim Moir) and Gina McKee were cast as his parents. The show also featured Geordie actors Victoria Elliott and Lisa McGrillis, alongside performances from North East stand-ups Steffen Peddie, Barry Dodds and Alfie Joey.

Principal photography began with a week's shoot on location in Hebburn on 23 April 2012, with the production based at High Lane Social Club in the town. Park Road, the street on which Cook was raised, prominently featured in the shoot. Following the location shoot in South Tyneside, the production moved to its main base at studios in Manchester.

The series concluded with Joe, played by Moir, having a stroke at Jack and Sarah's wedding. Writer Jason Cook says that this was important for him as his own father had a stroke, "so that was like a love letter to my mum and dad." His father's stroke had inspired Cook's critically acclaimed 2007 stand-up show, My Confessions.

Filming of the second series began in August 2013. It was announced in August that Melanie Hill would join the cast for the second series, and, pending some teasing about Cook about a "propa legend" in the second series, it was revealed that Tim Healy would have a cameo role in the first episode of the second series. The series will also feature Toby Hadoke, Alfie Joey, Seymour Mace and Terry Joyce.

Cast

Christmas Special

A Christmas special aired in December 2013 featuring Miriam Margolyes as Millie, Sarah's grandmother. The special was the last-ever episode of "Hebburn" as it was later axed in March 2014.

Reception

The first series received mixed reviews. The Guardian's Sam Wollaston labelled the series "Hebburn Meh-burn", saying that its "neither brave nor original," claiming that the characters "don't behave or speak like real people, they behave and speak like a sitcom family." similarly, The Independent's Tom Sutcliffe suggested "there's not a lot in Hebburn that you haven't seen before", comparing the show to The Royle Family. However, Sutcliffe says that Hebburn "is quite distinctively its own thing", and praises the show's "sharpness of characterisation for them to show how good they can be right from the off."

Some people from Hebburn, including a local councillor, objected to the show's portrayal of the town and its residents. However, despite the mixed critical reaction, a second series and Christmas special were commissioned, with writer Jason Cook revealing ambitions to launch a four-day comedy festival in the town.

The second series, broadcast in autumn 2013, also received mixed reviews. Writing for The Guardian, Dominic Sandbrook said: "It’s still not exactly subtle comedy, but the first episode of the new run turned out to have more gags than the whole of the first series combined. If scriptwriter Jason Cook can belatedly find his sense of humour, then so can the people of Hebburn." The Independent's Ellen E Jones branded the series "a relic from a different era", saying that "it really belongs to that breed of untaxing sitcom in which the gentle laughs are so predictable that you could set your pacemaker by them." In contrast to the broadsheets, South Tyneside local newspaper Shields Gazette's Vicki Newman, who "was given exclusive behind-the-scenes access during filming", praised the show, writing that it "has so much heart that, to me, it was no surprise that it was commissioned for a second series. The show looks sharper, and it just feels bigger and better than the first series."

In January 2013, Hebburn was voted the "Best New TV Sitcom" in the Comedy.co.uk Awards held by the British Comedy Guide. The show won the regional Royal Television Society award in March 2013, and has been nominated in the Best Comedy category in the National Television Awards; the winner will be announced in January 2014.

DVD release

The complete first series of Hebburn was released onto DVD on 26 November 2012.