Hospital comedy gets HBO treatment

US cablenet HBO has greenlit the creators of Big Love to shoot a pilot based on Getting Old, a BBC hospital-based comedy from UK comic Jo Brand.

Getting On

Mark Olsen and Will Scheffer, who wrote and oversaw polygamist drama Big Love between 2006 and 2011, are working on the show, which has their prodco Anima Sol and BBC Worldwide Productions attached.

The move is another BBC comedy remake for HBO, which launched the critically acclaimed Veep (based on The Thick of It) this summer.

The original Getting Old is a Bafta-winning BBC4 series from Vera Productions that stars comic Brand as a ward nurse. She also writes the show, along with fellow stars Vicki Pepperdine and Joanna Scanlan.

Olsen and Scheffer executive produce the new adaptation alongside Lisa Bellomo and Geoff Atkinson, the latter of whom helmed the original. BBC Worldwide’s (BBCWW) Jane Tranter and Julie Gardner are also attached as exec producers.

Scheffer said he and Olsen had a personal connection to the format. “When we proposed the reformat to BBCWW and HBO, the issues in elder care were very personal to both of us; Mark’s and my mother were in their 90s and attending to their care had come to be a big part of our lives. Getting On nailed that world with its deadpan humour and deep humanity.”