Grandma's House


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Grandma's House is a sitcom television series broadcast on BBC Two. Written by Simon Amstell and long-term collaborator Dan Swimer, the series stars Simon Amstell playing a version of himself: an ex-television presenter searching for meaning in his life. Each episode takes place at his grandmother's house, where Grandma (Linda Bassett) welcomes her family, desperate to see everyone happy.

Grandma's House
GenreSitcom
Created bySimon Amstell
Written by
  • Simon Amstell
  • Dan Swimer
Starring
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series2
No. of episodes12 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers
  • Sophie Clarke-Jervoise
  • Simon Lupton
ProducerBen Cavey
Running time30 minutes
Production companyTiger Aspect Productions
Original release
NetworkBBC Two
Release9 August 2010 –
24 May 2012

The first series was shown in 2010, the second in 2012.[1] In December 2012 Amstell stated that there would not be a third series.[2]

Character Actor/actress Series Duration Notes
Simon Simon Amstell 1–2 2010–12
Grandma (Lily) Linda Bassett 1–2 2010–12 Simon and Adam's grandmother
Grandpa (Bernie) Geoffrey Hutchings 1 2010 Simon and Adam's grandfather
Tanya Rebecca Front 1–2 2010–12 Simon's mother
Clive James Smith 1–2 2010–12 Tanya's fiancé
Liz Samantha Spiro 1–2 2010–12 Simon's aunt
Adam Jamal Hadjkura 1–2 2010–12 Simon's cousin
Ben Theodore Iwan Rheon 1-2 2010–12 Simon's love interest
Barry Vincent Franklin 2 2012 Liz's husband
Mark Oliver Coopersmith 2 2012 School friend of Adam

The show was created and written by Simon Amstell and Dan Swimer.[3] Six 30-minutes episodes were produced for the first series by Tiger Aspect Productions for BBC Two. These were filmed at Pinewood Studios.[3]

The house used for exterior filming is located in 51°35′02″N 0°03′53″E / 51.5840°N 0.0648°EHighwood Gardens in Clayhall, Greater London.[4]

On 1 July 2010, Geoffrey Hutchings, who portrayed Grandpa, died.[5] The death of his character was said to have occurred between the two series.

The show has received a generally positive reaction from critics and audiences alike. TV.com's Ruth Margolis claimed that "[Amstell's] written a sitcom stuffed with gently funny moments and acerbic gems", but suggested "a few more naturalistic pauses would have just polished this into the self-assured comedy it so wants to be."[16] Other publications had differing opinions. UK's Metro' claimed on their website that "[Amstell's] brilliantly funny but we won’t be inviting him round for tea."[17] Sam Wollaston of The Guardian asked, "Can Simon act, though? Well, it's hard to know really, given that he's essentially just being himself", but comes around to the opinion that "Grandma's House is sharply written, with some nice lines and a bit of edge to it."[18] Two weeks later, Wollaston revealed "I'm enjoying Grandma's House more and more (...) there's a subtlety and a sharpness about it. And yeah, it's funny."[19]

Jewish media outlets such as the Jewish Chronicle were pleased that the show was bringing Jewish humour to mainstream audiences[20] and the newspaper also described the show as "genius".[21]

Year Award Category Nominee Result Refs

2010

 British Comedy Award Best Female Comedy Breakthrough Artist Samantha Spiro as Auntie Liz Won [22]
British Comedy Award Best New TV Comedy Grandma's House Nominated [22]

2 Entertain released the first series of Grandma's House on DVD on 20 September 2010; it includes all six episodes, a making-of documentary, a booklet and an audio commentary on one of the episodes by Amstell and his mother.[23][24]

International broadcast

edit

In Australia, the first season commenced airing on ABC2 each Thursday at 10pm from 23 February 2012.[25]

  1. ^ "BBC Programmes Grandma's House". BBC. 9 April 2012. Retrieved 9 April 2012.
  2. ^ Nissim, Mayer (20 December 2012). "Simon Amstell: 'Grandma's House is over'". Digital Spy. Retrieved 1 July 2021.
  3. ^ a b "Grandma's House - Production Details". British Comedy Guide. Retrieved 4 August 2010.
  4. ^ "Grandma's House (2010) – filming locations". IMDb. Retrieved 5 May 2012.
  5. ^ "Stage and TV actor Geoffrey Hutchings dies aged 71". BBC News. BBC. 2 July 2010. Retrieved 5 September 2010.
  6. ^ Andrew Laughlin (10 August 2010). "'Grandma's House' debuts to 1.5m". Digital Spy. Retrieved 10 August 2010.
  7. ^ Andrew Laughlin (17 August 2010). "'The One Show' relaunch appeals to 4.5m". Digital Spy. Retrieved 17 August 2010.
  8. ^ Andrew Laughlin (24 August 2010). "New look 'The One Show' holds steady". Digital Spy. Retrieved 24 August 2010.
  9. ^ Andrew Laughlin (1 September 2010). "4.9m watch Donovan's 'You Think You Are?'". Digital Spy. Retrieved 1 September 2010.
  10. ^ Andrew Laughlin (7 September 2010). "'Bouquet of Barbed Wire' opens to 5.2m". Digital Spy. Retrieved 8 September 2010.
  11. ^ Andrew Laughlin (20 April 2012). "'The Inbetweeners' returns to 2.2m". Digital Spy. Retrieved 15 September 2010.
  12. ^ Paul Millar (14 April 2010). "Simon Amstell's 'Grandma's House' revisited by nearly 1m". Digital Spy. Retrieved 20 April 2012.
  13. ^ Paul Millar (27 April 2012). "Louis Theroux's 'Extreme Love' concludes with 2m for BBC Two". Digital Spy. Retrieved 28 April 2012.
  14. ^ Paul Millar (4 May 2012). "'The Hoarder Next Door' starts brightly for Channel 4 with 3.3m". Digital Spy. Retrieved 5 May 2012.
  15. ^ Paul Millar (11 May 2012). "'Britain's Got Talent' last semi-final results show rebounds to 8.2m". Digital Spy. Retrieved 12 May 2012.
  16. ^ Ruth Margolis (6 August 2010). "Welcome to Simon Amstell's Grandma's House". TV.com. Retrieved 6 September 2010.
  17. ^ Sharon Lougher (9 August 2010). "Grandma's House: Simon Amstell returns to TV presenter mode (sort of)". Metro. Retrieved 6 September 2010.
  18. ^ Sam Wollaston (10 August 2010). "TV review: Grandma's House, Inn Mates and Gears And Tears". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 September 2010.
  19. ^ Sam Wollaston (24 August 2010). "TV review: The Hospital, Grandma's House". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 September 2010.
  20. ^ Tracy-Ann Oberman (19 August 2010). "Finally, we're no longer a niche". The Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved 7 September 2010.
  21. ^ Simon Rocker (19 August 2010). "Read all about it on the BBC". The Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved 7 September 2010.
  22. ^ a b Amy Bell (22 January 2011). "In Full: British Comedy Awards - Winners". Digital Spy. Retrieved 31 January 2011.
  23. ^ "DVD details for Grandma's House". IMDb. Retrieved 22 September 2010.
  24. ^ "Grandma's House Merchandise". British Comedy Guide. Retrieved 22 September 2010.
  25. ^ "ABC2 Programming Airdate: Grandma's House (episode one)". ABC Television Publicity. Retrieved 12 May 2012.