Rob Brydon has explained why he returned to the sitcom format for the first time since Gavin & Stacey, and promised a "sharpness" and "edge" running through his new BBC One comedy Bill's Included.
Speaking to the BBC, Brydon said he had simply missed the genre after years of presenting and documentary work. "I haven't done a sitcom since Gavin & Stacey," he said. "I'd been hosting shows like Destination X, Would I Lie to You?, The Floor, I did my travel country music documentary and I missed it and I wanted to do it."
The project came together through Steve Coogan's company Baby Cow, which has developed scripts for Brydon over several years. "This must have been 4 or 5 years ago, maybe more," he said. "It went through several iterations until we ended up where we are now."
Bill's Included arrives on BBC One and BBC iPlayer later this month on Friday 20 November. In the six-part series, Brydon leads the cast as Bill Beam, a well-meaning divorcee who, after his wife leaves him for their gardener, rents his spare rooms to four students to stay afloat, styling himself a "land friend" rather than a landlord.
"Right at the beginning of episode one he comes home to discover that his wife is having an affair with their gardener," Brydon said. "He sees that there's been a fire at the local university halls of residence and there's a housing crisis. So, he has the bright idea of renting rooms to students."
The actor was candid about how close Bill sits to his own screen persona, following affable character roles such as Bryn West and Keith Barrett. "I think what we've done in this to some degree is take some of my own traits and just exaggerate them for comic effect," he said, adding that early drafts featured "quite a different character" before the team decided to "lean more into me and elements of me and just amplify them".
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But he was keen to stress the comedy has bite beneath its warmth. Reflecting on the shows that have worked best for him, Brydon said audiences enjoy spending time with the characters, before adding: "Within that you always want a sharpness to the comedy, little bit of edge to it."
The series is written by Ben Ashenden and Alexander Owen, the duo known as The Pin. Alongside Brydon, the cast includes Dylan Brady as privileged, image-obsessed Christian, Ada Player as relentlessly positive Hettie, Harry Baxendale as sweet-natured mead-brewing James and Yasmin Al-Khudhairi as serious, studious Zahra. Samantha Spiro plays Bill's neighbour Siobhan, with Nigel Lindsay and Kevin Eldon also appearing.
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Bill's Included is available to stream on BBC iPlayer from Friday 20 November 2026.
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