''Staged'' is a British television comedy series. Set and filmed during the

COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom The COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom is a part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). In the United Kingdom, it has resulted in confirm ...

, primarily using video-conferencing technology, the series stars actors

Michael Sheen Michael Christopher Sheen (born 5 February 1969) is a Welsh actor. After training at London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), he worked mainly in theatre throughout the 1990s with stage roles in ''Romeo and Juliet'' (1992), ''Don't Fool wi ...

and

David Tennant David John Tennant (; born 18 April 1971) is a Scottish actor. He is best known for portraying the Tenth Doctor, tenth and Fourteenth Doctor, fourteenth incarnations of The Doctor (Doctor Who), the Doctor in the science fiction series ''Docto ...

as fictionalised versions of themselves. Simon Evans, Georgia Tennant, Anna Lundberg, and Lucy Eaton also star. The first series premiered 10 June 2020 on

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

, and the second series premiered 4 January 2021 on BBC One. A

Comic Relief Comic Relief is a British charity, founded in 1986 by the comedy scriptwriter Richard Curtis and comedian Sir Lenny Henry in response to the 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia. The concept of Comic Relief was to get British comedians to make t ...

New Year Special was uploaded to the

BritBox BritBox is a British Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Video on demand#Subscription models, video on demand Streaming television, streaming service founded by BBC Studios and ITV plc, ITV which operates in eight countries across Australi ...

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

page on 31 December 2021. A third series, ''BackStaged'', premiered on 24 November 2022 on BritBox.

Premise

In the first series, Michael Sheen and David Tennant play fictionalised versions of themselves, trying to rehearse a performance of

Luigi Pirandello Luigi Pirandello (; ; 28 June 1867 – 10 December 1936) was an Italians, Italian dramatist, novelist, poet, and short story writer whose greatest contributions were his plays. He was awarded the 1934 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his bold and ...

's '' Six Characters in Search of an Author'' during

lockdown A lockdown () is a restriction policy for people, community or a country to stay where they are, usually due to specific risks that could possibly harm the people if they move and interact freely. The term is used for a prison protocol that us ...

via videoconference, while the underconfident director, Simon, struggles to keep control of the production. The second series follows the "real" Michael and David following the success of the first series of ''Staged''. Simon begins work on an American

remake A remake is a film, television series, video game, song or similar form of entertainment that is based upon and retells the story of an earlier production in the same medium—e.g., a "new version of an existing film". A remake tells the same s ...

of the first series but Michael and David are not asked to reprise their roles. The third series starts with Simon trying to get Michael and David to agree to a Christmas staged version of '' Six Characters in Search of an Author'', and later ''

A Christmas Carol ''A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas'', commonly known as ''A Christmas Carol'', is a novella by Charles Dickens, first published in London by Chapman & Hall in 1843 and illustrated by John Leech. It recounts the ...

'', before becoming a

metafiction Metafiction is a form of fiction that emphasizes its own narrative structure in a way that inherently reminds the audience that they are reading or viewing a fictional work. Metafiction is self-conscious about language, literary form, and story ...

al behind the scenes documentary of the show entitled ''Backstaged''.

Cast

Main

Co-starring

* Georgia Tennant, David's wife * Anna Lundberg, Michael's girlfriend * Lucy Eaton, Simon's sister * Simon Evans, the director of the play and of ''Staged''. Evans' acting role in the series is uncredited.

Guest

Guest stars play themselves unless otherwise noted.

Series 1

* Nina Sosanya as Jo, financier of the play * Rebecca Gage as Janine, assistant to Jo (voice only) * Samuel L. Jackson *

Adrian Lester Adrian Anthony Lester (born Anthony Harvey on 14 August 1968) is a British actor. He is the recipient of a Laurence Olivier Award, an Evening Standard Theatre Award and a Critics' Circle Theatre Award for his work on the London stage, an ...

Judi Dench Dame Judith Olivia Dench (born 9 December 1934) is an English actress. Widely considered one of Britain's greatest actors, she is noted for her versatility, having appeared in films and television, as well as for her numerous roles on the stage ...

Series 2

* Nina Sosanya *

Whoopi Goldberg Caryn Elaine Johnson (born November 13, 1955), known professionally as Whoopi Goldberg (), is an American actor, comedian, author, and television personality.Kuchwara, Michael (AP Drama Writer)"Whoopi Goldberg: A One-Woman Character Parade". ...

as Mary, agent to Michael and David * Ben Schwartz as Tom, assistant to Mary * Romesh Ranganathan *

Michael Palin Sir Michael Edward Palin (; born 5 May 1943) is an English actor, comedian, writer, and television presenter. He was a member of the Monty Python comedy group. He received the BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award, BAFTA Fellowship in 2013 and was knig ...

Nick Frost Nicholas John Frost (born 28 March 1972) is an English actor, comedian and screenwriter. He has appeared in the '' Three Flavours Cornetto'' trilogy of films, consisting of '' Shaun of the Dead'' (2004), ''Hot Fuzz'' (2007), and '' The World's ...

Simon Pegg Simon John Pegg (; born 14 February 1970) is an English actor, comedian and screenwriter. He came to prominence in the UK as the co-creator of the Channel 4 sitcom ''Spaced'' (1999–2001), directed by Edgar Wright. He and Wright co-wrote the ...

* Christoph Waltz *

Ewan McGregor Ewan Gordon McGregor ( ; born 31 March 1971) is a Scottish actor. His accolades include a Golden Globe Award and a Primetime Emmy Award. In 2013, he was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for his services to drama and ...

Hugh Bonneville Hugh Richard Bonniwell Williams (born 10 November 1963), known professionally as Hugh Bonneville, is an English actor. He is best known for portraying Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham, in the ITV historical drama series ''Downton Abbey'' from ...

Ken Jeong Kendrick Kang-Joh Jeong ( ; ; born July 13, 1969) is an American stand-up comedian, actor and physician. He rose to prominence for playing Leslie Chow in ''The Hangover'' film series (2009–2013) and Ben Chang in the NBC sitcom ''Community'' ...

Jim Parsons James Joseph Parsons (born March 24, 1973) is an American actor. From 2007 to 2019, Parsons played Sheldon Cooper in the CBS sitcom ''The Big Bang Theory''. He has received various awards, including four Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstandin ...

* Josh Gad * Phoebe Waller-Bridge *

Cate Blanchett Catherine Élise Blanchett ( ; born 14 May 1969) is an Australian actor and producer. Regarded as one of the best performers of her generation, she is recognised for Cate Blanchett on screen and stage, her versatile work across stage and scre ...

Series 3: ''BackStaged''

Neil Gaiman Neil Richard MacKinnon Gaiman (; born Neil Richard Gaiman; 10 November 1960) is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, audio theatre, and screenplays. His works include the comic series ''The Sandman (comic book), The Sandma ...

* Peter De Jersey as Dominic/himself *

Jim Broadbent James Broadbent (born 24 May 1949) is an English actor. A graduate of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art in 1972, he came to prominence as a character actor for his many roles in film and television. He has received various accolades ...

* Ebony Aboagye as Charlie, documentarian * Ty Tennant * Ben Schwartz *

* Nina Sosanya * Lily Mo Sheen *

Olivia Colman Sarah Caroline Sinclair ( Colman; born 30 January 1974), known professionally as Olivia Colman, is an English actress. She has received various accolades, including an Academy Award, four BAFTA Awards, two Emmy Awards, three Golden Globe Award ...

* Hari Mackinnon

Episodes

Series 1 (2020)

Series 2 (2021)

Special (2021)

Series 3: ''BackStaged'' (2022)

Release

The series premiered on 10 June 2020 on

. On 22 October 2020, it was announced that a second series had been commissioned. The second series premiered on 4 January 2021 on BBC One, and all eight episodes were added to

BBC iPlayer BBC iPlayer (stylised as iPLAYER or BBC iPLAYER) is a video on demand service from the BBC. The service is available Over-the-top media service, over-the-top on a wide range of devices, including Mobile phone, mobile phones and Tablet computer ...

on the same day. A New Year Special was uploaded to

page on 31 December 2021, with Michael, David, Simon, Georgia, Anna & Lucy all reprising their roles. The first series was released in the U.S. via streaming service

Hulu Hulu (, ) is an American Subscription business model, subscription streaming media service owned by Disney Streaming, a subsidiary of the Disney Entertainment segment of the Walt Disney Company. It was launched on October 29, 2007, initially as ...

on 16 September 2020. A third series of six episodes premiered on 24 November 2022 on BritBox UK.

Reception

The first series was well received by critics. Louis Chilton, in a four-starred review for ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'', described ''Staged'' as "a welcome distraction, an eminently watchable portrait of two artists as petulant, egotistical children". Anna Leszkiewicz, for the ''

New Statesman ''The New Statesman'' (known from 1931 to 1964 as the ''New Statesman and Nation'') is a British political and cultural news magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first c ...

'', said it was "charming: absurdly silly in a quiet, understated way". Rupert Hawksley, in the '' i'', described it as "compelling 'lockdown' television". Gabriel Tate, reviewing ''Staged'' for '' Metro'', said "Sheen and Tennant shared a warmth and willingness to take the mickey out of each other that felt entirely unforced." Fergus Morgan, writing in ''

The Stage ''The Stage'' is a British weekly newspaper and website covering the entertainment industry and particularly theatre. Founded in 1880, ''The Stage'' contains news, reviews, opinion, features, and recruitment advertising, mainly directed at thos ...

'', gave the production five stars and said: "Tennant and Sheen are excellent, perennially, even when performing as themselves to their own laptops. Here, joined by Evans and by their real-life spouses – the actors Georgia Tennant and Anna Lundberg – they are on top form, crackling with snide chemistry. The whole thing is a treat." The second series received more mixed reviews. Rupert Hawksley of ''The Independent'' called the first episode "stale and indulgent ..Perhaps ''Staged'' was always this smug and we just didn’t notice, so grateful were we to have something new to watch, but the tone is now horribly out of step with the national mood." Writing for ''The Telegraph'', Anita Singh criticised the meta aspects of the second series, saying "''Staged'' is at its best when the duo are being funny, rather than debating whether or not they’re funny."

References

External links

* * * * {{COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom, Crown Dependencies and British Overseas Territories 2020 British television series debuts 2020s British comedy television series 2020s British sitcoms 2022 British television series endings BBC television comedy BBC television sitcoms British English-language television shows Media depictions of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom Metafictional television series Self-reflexive television Television shows about the COVID-19 pandemic Works based on Six Characters in Search of an Author