Croydon is once again the star of the small screen, this time in BBC Four’s sitcom Going Forward.

South London BAFTA winner Jo Brand – who was born in Wandsworth – reprises her BAFTA-winning turn as nurse Kim Wilde from Getting On.

Having quit working in the NHS in favour of a private healthcare company for little more than minimum wage, the three-part series follows her family and professional life over three days and shines a light on broken Britain.

Omid Djalili plays her struggling taxi driver husband.

The three-part series about broken Britain is set over three days and was filmed extensively in Croydon, including Edgecoombe Road in South Croydon where Brand’s character visits a patient.

Homes in Nightingale Road, Lapwing Close, Quail Gardens, Warren Avenue and Copes View were used, along with the council flats at Broadcoombe.

Regus Croydon was used for the office interiors

Brand, 58, spent a decade in nursing and worked at both Bethlem and Maudsley hospitals before turning to comedy.

Speaking about her casting, Brand, who also wrote the series, said: “Having failed the auditions for Darts Players’ Wives, it's lovely to slip into a glamorous lilac nurse’s tunic and step into the exotic world of community health care.”

BBC comedy’s controller of commissioning, Shane Allen said: “Jo’s naturalism as a performer is mesmerising, the casting is spot on and the writing is sublime.

“This is the world of zero-hours contracts alongside juggling the responsibilities and demands of that middle generation with demanding children and evermore dependent parents.

“It’s a world Jo knows well as she brings truth, depth, heart and humour to our everyday world.”

Going forward began on Thursday, May 19, and continues until Thursday, May 2.


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