RTÉ sales comedy series Bridget & Eamon in UK

Bridget & Eamon started life as a sketch on RTÉ2’s satirical TV review and magazine show The Republic of Telly. Such was its popularity, both on television and social media, that RTÉ commissioned a full series late last year from Pure Class Productions. The series was renewed for a second series in July.

Written by Bernard O'Shea, Jennifer Zamparelli and Jason Butler, the show is set in the 1980s and stars Zamparelli as aspirational housewife Bridget and O’Shea as her hapless husband Eamon. The unhappily married couple live somewhere in the Irish Midlands with their indeterminate number of children. She wants the lifestyle from the pages of Woman’s Way, but times are tight and among Eamon’s many annoying habits is his inability to make money. The show features talents like Norma Sheahan, Eleanor Tiernan, Sharon Mannion, Colum McDonnell, and Edwin Sammon. 

RTÉ head of comedy, Eddie Doyle, said: ‘This is a real breakthrough for Irish comedy in Britain. Building on the success of Mrs Browns Boys, Bridget & Eamon shows how Irish writers, performers and producers can compete in one of the biggest, most creative comedy marketplaces in the world’.

Edel Edwards, head of international programme sales for RTÉ, added: ‘Bridget & Eamon is just very, very funny. It has great jokes, great characters and has delivered great audiences for RTÉ2. We’re confident that Gold’s viewers will laugh as loudly to Bridget and Eamon’s 1980s-inspired antics as RTÉ2’s, Dynasty and massive shoulder pads. And with a second season due to launch in October, the even better news is that there’s more hilarity to come’.

And Daniel Thomas, acquisitions executive for UKTV, completed: ‘We’re very excited to bring Bridget & Eamon to British TV screens. The series is absolutely hilarious and is the perfect addition to Gold’s existing slate of high-quality comedy. We’re sure our audience will love the witty one-liners and brilliantly executed 80s nostalgia as much as RTE’s audience did in Ireland’.