The Doctor is in…the director’s chair. Former Doctor Who star Peter Capaldi has been tapped to direct They F**k You Up, a British comedy pilot in development at Sky. They F**ck You Up is reportedly based on Sarah Naish’s memoir But He Looks So Normal: A Bad-Tempered Parenting Guide for Adopters and Foster Parents, and is set to go into production early this year. The pilot is written by Thomas Eccleshare, the writer behind Channel 5’s Witness Number 3, who worked with with Capaldi on Apple TV+’s upcoming series Criminal Record.
According to Deadline, who broke the news, They F**ck You Up was developed for The BBC, but has moved to Tod Productions, the STV Studios-backed company founded by Vera producer Elaine Collins (who is also married to Capaldi), and Sky Studios. Tod was also the studio behind Criminal Record. That series is expected to be released in the first half of 2023.
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“She’s sort of like the best mother in the world and the worst mother in the world,” Eccleshare said of Naish, whose memoir is equal parts heartfelt and caustic. “She will leave her kids on the side of the motorway to make their own way home but also fully support them through their quite extreme difficulties.”
Eccleshare is currently at work writing two more episodes, which means that while Sky has not yet committed to a full series order, the signs are good.
While most audiences — especially Americans — know Capaldi for his Doctor Who work, he has done some directing in the past, including episodes of Getting On, a comedy popular enough to have had some penetration in the US market. In addition to directing series one and two of the series, Capaldi appeared in it as Dr. Healy. A U.S. version of Getting On ran on HBO from 2013 until 2015.
Capaldi played the Twelfth Doctor on Doctor Who from 2013 until 2017, and is also known for his role as Malcolm Tucker in The Thick of It and its spinoff movie, In the Loop. He won numerous awards for his time as Tucker on both the small and big screens. He recently played the role of The Thinker in James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad.
They F**k You Up is set to be executive produced by Collins and Anil Gupta, who heads up comedy for Sky Studios. Katie Churchill is the producer.
