Lily Allen and Freema Agyeman to star in new Sky Original comedy ‘Dreamland’

With the summer sun paying us a very welcome visit it’s high time for a trip to the beach. Filming has begun in the seaside town of Margate for Dreamland; a brand-new Sky Original comedy starring Freema Agyeman (Doctor Who) and Lily Allen (How to Build a Girl) in her debut TV role.

Based on Sky’s 2018 BAFTA-winning short of the same name, which was written by Sharon Horgan and produced by Merman, Dreamland is a comedy-drama about secrets, lies, loves and aspirations within a family of four sisters. Set in the sun-drenched British seaside town of Margate, it is a dark comedic exploration of multi-generational female relationships, and their (somewhat dysfunctional) family dynamics.

Eldest sister Trish (Agyeman) is pregnant for the third time with her partner Spence (Kiell Smith- Bynoe). And this time, she’s decided: it’s going to be a girl. Her two sisters Clare (Gabby Best) and Leila (Aimee-Ffion Edwards) rally around her with their mum (Frances Barber) and their Margate- legend nan (Sheila Reid), “manifesting” a little girl at Trish’s ‘mani-festival’. But when their other sister, Mel (Allen), makes an unexpected reappearance back into their lives, her return threatens to destabilise the entire family. A knock on their door and their ‘Dreamland’ is no more...

The series also features a guest star appearance from Samantha Bond as Orla.

The 6x30” Sky Original series is produced by Sharon Horgan and Clelia Mountford’s production company Merman, in association with Sky Studios. From Merman, the team behind some of the most distinctive, award-winning comedies of recent years, including Motherland (BBC Two), Frayed (Sky Max) and This Way Up (Channel 4), Dreamland promises a heartfelt exploration of the family relationships between these strong, vibrant women.

Dreamland was commissioned by Jon Mountague, Director of Comedy, Sky Studios and Alex Moody, Commissioning Editor, Sky Studios, for Zai Bennett, Managing Director of Content, Sky UK. The series is executive produced by Clelia Mountford, Sharon Horgan for Merman with Jane Bell as Producer and Emma Jane Unsworth as Showrunner and Associate Producer. Alex Moody serves as Executive Producer for Sky Studios. Written by Emma Jane Unsworth, Gabby Best, Sharma Walfall and Sarah Kendall, the series will be directed by Ellie Heydon. NBCUniversal Global Distribution handle international sales of the series on behalf of Sky Studios.

Dreamland will air on Sky Comedy and streaming service NOW in 2023. 

Notes to Editors:

For more information about Dreamland, please contact:
Molly Wyatt
Amanda Hearn
Charlotte Kershaw (nee Prentice)

About Sky

Sky is Europe’s leading media and entertainment company and is proud to be part of Comcast Corporation, a global media and technology company that connects people to moments that matter. Across six countries, Sky connects 23 million customers to the best entertainment, sports, news, arts and to our own award-winning original content.

Following the launch of Sky Glass, we now offer customers our strongest ever line-up of products and services. As well as the new streaming TV with Sky inside and everything integrated, customers can enjoy the award-winning Sky Q with all your favourite channels and apps in one place, and with Sky Go you can now access an even better experience on your devices. Sky TV has new channels, new shows and new deals with Peacock, Paramount+ and more. Sky Mobile was voted Best Pay Monthly and Best Value Pay Monthly network by Uswitch, and with Sky Broadband we’re offering our fastest speeds yet.

Building on the success of Sky Originals like Chernobyl, Gangs of London and Brassic, we are doubling our investment in original content by 2024 through Sky Studios. Our new TV and movie studio, Sky Studios Elstree, is expected to create over 2,000 new jobs and generate an additional £3 billion of production investment in the UK over the first five years alone. Sky News provides impartial and trustworthy journalism for free; Sky Arts is the UKs only dedicated free-to-air arts channel making the arts accessible for everyone and Sky Sports, our leading sports broadcasting service, brings customers some of the biggest and best global sporting events from the Premier League to Formula 1 and everything in-between. Sky Cinema is the home of Sky Original films with brand new films launching every month alongside an unrivalled range of the latest cinema releases and on demand library.

We believe that we can be a force for good in the communities in which we operate. We’re committed to being Europe’s first net zero carbon entertainment company by 2030 and we’re proud to be a Principal Partner and Media Partner of COP26 – the UN Climate Change Conference. We take pride in our approach to diversity and inclusion: we’ve been recognised by The Times and Stonewall for our commitment to diversity, and we’ve set ambitious 2025 targets to continue to increase diversity and representation. We’re also committed to investing £30million across our markets over the next three years to improve our approach to diversity and inclusion, and to tackle racial injustice.

About Merman

Merman is a production and entertainment company working across the US and UK. As well as scripting award-winning TV and film, Merman is globally renowned for creating and executing the next generation of branded entertainment, advertising and premium short form content. Merman was founded in 2014 by award-winning duo Sharon Horgan and Clelia Mountford, and under their leadership Merman Television has won multiple accolades including five BAFTAs and multiple Emmy and RTS nominations.

Merman’s hotly-anticipated drama Bad Sisters, which is created by and starring Sharon Horgan, is due to launch on apple TV+ this August. Other recent TV projects include: Frayed for Sky/ABC, This Way Up for Hulu/Channel 4, Housebroken for Fox, Shining Vale for Starz. Frank of Ireland for Channel 4/Amazon, Motherland for BBC2, There She Goes for BBC4, Catastrophe for Channel 4/Amazon, Divorce for HBO, Women on the Verge for UKTV, plus many more.

Merman’s first feature film Herself, a co-production with Element Pictures, written by Claire Dunne and Malcolm Campbell and starring Dunne, premiered at 2020 Sundance Film Festival.

In 2018 Merman launched Mermade, its brand new digitally focused digital sister, specializing in the creation of content of all shapes and sizes, funded by and for social and streaming platforms, brands and publishers, with a particular focus on short-form episodic.