Navid And Johnny
- TV sitcom that was never broadcast
- BBC Two
- 2008
- 1 pilot
Sitcom about the residents in a North London guest house. Stars Omid Djalili, Stephen K Amos and Lisa Maxwell.
Navid And Johnny trivia
In October 2008, established comedy writer Jim Miller claimed that the idea for In My Country had been stolen from him by the BBC.
According to Miller, he approached the BBC in 2006 with a similar series also featuring immigrants in a London guest house under the working title Settle Down Now. The corporation paid him £500 for a treatment, which was overseen at the time by producer Jane Berthoud, who went on to become the producer of In My Country. The writer claims the BBC contacted his agent in July 2008 offering to pay £2,500 for unspecified rights to work he had done and, despite the fact he did not sign any contract, the sum was paid into his bank account.
The BBC responded by saying that both In My Country and Settle Down Now were developed in parallel, that neither writer knew about the other project, and that similarities were nothing more than coincidence
. A BBC spokesperson added: Having fully investigated Jim Miller's claims, the BBC is certain that it has not used any intellectual property owned by Jim Miller and that he has no legitimate claim to the format of In My Country.