Bravo Two Charlies PI spin-off coming to BBC Radio Wales
- The Abergele Files finds redundant traffic cops Dennis Babb and Lee Cushion returning to North Wales as private investigators
- Martin Trenaman and Rhys Ap Trefor reprise their Bravo Two Charlies' roles in the four-part sitcom, once again written by Trenaman and Matt Leys
- "Matt and Martin are just really good at what they do: creating daft but believable worlds and filling them with daft but believable characters" said producer Steve Doherty
Police sitcom Bravo Two Charlies finished at Christmas after five series. But two of the show's characters are now getting a spin-off on BBC Radio Wales, British Comedy Guide can exclusively reveal.
North Wales traffic cops Dennis Babb and Lee Cushion, played by Martin Trenaman and Rhys Ap Trefor, return this autumn, setting up as private investigators in a new show, with the working title The Abergele Files.
Four 30-minute episodes have been ordered by the BBC. Recording this summer, the series is once again written by Bravo Two Charlies creators Trenaman and Matt Leys.
"It's the same North Wales setting, the Bravo cinematic universe continuing" Leys told BCG. "With the odd mention of characters from Bravo, which is nice, keeping the sense of the world carrying on. But it's new and very much its own thing."
PhoneShop and The Inbetweeners star Trenaman added: "We want to bring the listeners of Bravo with us, so it's got that Bravo feel, the sort of daft cases that they get involved in. These are not your standard cosy crime mysteries."
The original comedy was BBC Radio Wales' most successful sitcom and attracted an audience across the UK on BBC Sounds. The corporation had wanted a sixth series of the show, which also starred Rhian Green, Laura Dalgleish, Sion Pritchard, Simon Holland Roberts and Sarah Breese.
"We wanted to park Bravo Two Charlies because we had a body of work that we were proud of and we felt we'd hit the end of the road in terms of storylines" Trenaman explained. "We asked BBC Radio Wales, who have been brilliant, if we could say goodbye in a two-parter and they agreed.
"But after discussions with them and our producer, Steve Doherty (Meet David Sedaris, The Last Days Of Michael Legge), we started thinking about a spin-off. Dennis is at retirement age, so what's he going to do? Well, he's still going to be sat next to Lee because he's basically his [surrogate] dad."
Leys reflects: "Dennis and Lee are the characters we loved the most. They're the two that have got a life beyond. Every time they try parting, to do something separately, they end up drifting back together because Dennis needs Lee and Lee needs Dennis."
Raymond Chandler aficionado Dennis and his hapless sidekick are bringing "years of inexperience" to Abergele Investigations. And they will be joined by a new character, Bronwyn, a waitress in the cafe they frequent who becomes their enthusiastic assistant.
"There isn't a brains of the operation because they bungle everything between the three of them" Trenaman observes. "Across the series there's a narrative arc about whether their company can survive. Dennis has put his pension pot into it, with a naïve optimism that soon crashes into reality. But each episode is also basically a case of the week."
Writing mysteries presents a different challenge to the one they had penning Bravo Two Charlies, "a different energy" Leys suggests. "Before, we had three stories running concurrently. And this is just one running all the way through, maybe with a B-plot as well. In some ways it's trickier because the nature of a mystery is that there's more exposition and the difficult thing is making it as quick and as funny as possible."
With other Bravo characters getting mentioned in The Abergele Files, the writers aren't sure yet if their erstwhile cast will cameo in the initial four episodes.
"It's nice to put in Easter Eggs for the established fans, and maybe if it's handled the right way we'll go down that route" says Trenaman. "But we don't want to confuse new listeners. So we'll have to see."
Bravo Two Charlies was adapted for a BBC One Wales television pilot in 2021. And the pair are open to trying to get Dennis and Lee on screens again.
But Trenaman maintains that "our ambition needs to be to get this series as good as it can be, then hopefully get a second, so one step at a time. It would be lovely to get that Bravo universe on TV though."
Ap Trefor is "an absolute joy to work with" he adds. "He's a brilliant comic actor and we have a chemistry between us, we know how the other is going to play it. He's really looking forward to it."
Doherty is once again producing for his company Giddy Goat Productions (Nick Revell: BrokenDreamCatcher, Now You're Asking With Marian Keyes And Tara Flynn) because "we couldn't do it without him, it really is three of us making these shows" says Leys.
For his part, the producer says: "I'm very excited about getting going on with The Abergele Files, where Lee and Dennis make the most of redundancy. We'll miss the rest of the cast, of course but it was better to finish Bravo on a high. We're still in what Matt and Martin insist on calling the Bravo Cinematic Universe (I think of it more as ... where I live) but with a whole new set of challenges for the former inhabitants of Car One.
"There was a time when making comedy for Radio Wales might have been seen as 'second' to, say Radio 4. But with BBC Sounds it means comedy fans can listen whenever and wherever they want. We'd proud to make this in and for Wales but delighted to have an audience for our show that spreads far and wide. Good shows are good shows in the slightly more democratic arena of the touchscreen.
"Matt and Martin are just really good at what they do: creating daft but believable worlds and filling them with daft but believable characters. It's such a pleasure to work with them - always so positive; always with creative and funny responses to my questions."