The Trouble With Maggie Cole South Devon Filming Locations
Dawn French to Star in ITV Comedy Set in South Devon
It’s been announced that comedy doyen, Dawn French, is to star in ITV’s latest sitcom set on the sunny shores of South Devon.
French has been cast in the central role as Maggie Cole, everyone’s favourite busybody, who lands herself in some hot water after gossiping about the private lives of the village denizens to an ‘all ears’ radio journalist. The intriguing and hilarious consequences of her tongue wagging exploits sees her neighbours’ otherwise quiet lives uprooted and derailed.
The Trouble with Maggie Cole will be going into production this spring and will be set in the fictional, close-knit community of ‘Thurlbury’ (the real name of the location still remains under wraps).
Written and created by Mark Brotherhood, the brand new six-part series will also star Mark Heap (who plays Peter the headmaster, Maggie’s enduring husband), Julie Hesmondhalgh (who plays Jill, Maggie’s best friend) Vicki Pepperdine (cast as Karen the school secretary) and Patrick Robinson (who plays Marcus, a handsome part-time Turlbury resident and best-selling author). Other characters all set to make you chuckle are; Carol the village GP, local shopkeepers Emil and Roxanna, and hair salon owner, Kelly.
The show follows in the footsteps of ITV’s hugely successful comedy series Doc Martin, also set in an idyllic West Country seaside village, only further along the south west coast in North Cornwall.
“The Trouble with Maggie Cole is a new drama in the tradition of Doc Martin and The Darling Buds of May, full of warmth and intriguing characters,” said Saskia Schuster, ITV’s Comedy Controller. “This new series will embrace its beautiful idyllic South Devon setting as we meet the villagers of Thurlbury and find out how an innocent afternoon spent indiscreetly gossiping has a domino effect on the whole village.”
French, who has been working on the concept alongside Sophie Clarke-Jervoise (executive producer) for ‘quite some time’, had this to say about her latest venture: “…I can’t wait to finally get started in front of the camera. It’s such a good story with a fantastic funny, touching script by Mark Brotherhood. Let me at it!”
Funny woman, Dawn, is no stranger to idyllic countryside locations having already won the hearts of the nation with her indelible performances in the role of The Reverend Geraldine Granger in the award-winning BBC sitcom, The Vicar of Dibley. When the cameras start rolling later this springtime, she won’t have far to travel from her coastal home in Fowey, South Cornwall, to be on set.
ITV have so far made no mention of when the series will be aired, but we’ll do our level best to keep you all up to date with all the latest details.