Sunny D. Dane (Dane Baptiste). Copyright: BBC
Sunny D

Sunny D

  • TV sitcom
  • BBC Three
  • 2015 - 2016
  • 5 episodes (1 series)

Sitcom starring Dane Baptiste as a 29 year-old man who feels trapped still living with his parents. Also features Gbemisola Ikumelo, Don Warrington, Liz Hume-Dawson, Sasha Frost, David Ajao and more.

Episode menu

Series 1, Episode 1 - D Is For Declarations

Sunny D. Image shows from L to R: Christian (Akemnji Ndifornyen), Dane (Dane Baptiste), Stefan (David Ajao). Copyright: BBC
Dane's family is celebrating his Dad's birthday with a party. He seeks solace at the party with his Dad and his friends, but after having one too many of his Dad's special birthday rums, Dane makes an unforgettable announcement.

Preview clips

Further details

Dane's family is celebrating his Dad's birthday with a party. The milestone is an unwelcome reminder for Dane that he's yet to achieve any of his goals in life. To make matters worse, his relatives compare Dane with his twin sister Kadean; his perfect cousin Christian and his high-achieving girlfriend Nicola.

Dane seeks solace at the party with his Dad and his friends, but after having one too many of his Dad's special birthday rums, Dane makes an unforgettable announcement. But will he regret it?

Broadcast details

Date
Sunday 13th November 2016
Time
9am
Channel
BBC Three
Length
20 minutes

Repeats

Show past repeats

Date Time Channel
Sunday 20th November 2016 11:15pm BBC1
Monday 21st November 2016 12:15am BBC1 Scot
Monday 5th October 2020 11:15pm BBC1
Monday 5th October 2020 11:45pm BBC1 Wales

Cast & crew

Cast
Dane Baptiste Dane
Gbemisola Ikumelo Kadean
Don Warrington Lawrence
Liz Hume-Dawson Gloria
Sasha Frost Nicola
David Ajao Stefan
Guest cast
Akemnji Ndifornyen Christian
Rudi Lickwood Samuel
Larrington Walker Radcliffe
Trevor Dwyer-Lynch Cedric
Kay Purcell Barbara
Angie Le Mar Lynda
Nyah Kunda Young Dane
Amy Mulumba Young Kadean
Mwema Mugisa-Malcolm Very Young Dane
Writing team
Dane Baptiste Writer
Daniel Peak Script Editor
Rhys James Script Editor
Production team
Rebecca Rycroft Director
Lucy Armitage Producer
Rebecca Papworth Executive Producer
Mark Everson Editor
Neil Barnes Production Designer
Jeremy Hewson Director of Photography
Jo Thompson Costume Designer
Olivia Rotheram-Jones Make-up Designer
Jake Rollins 1st Assistant Director

Video

Mo Money homage

Dane reflects on his expectations of adulthood.

Featuring: Dane Baptiste (Dane), Gbemisola Ikumelo (Kadean), Don Warrington (Lawrence), Liz Hume-Dawson (Gloria), Sasha Frost (Nicola) & David Ajao (Stefan).

Press

When BBC Three moved online there was a suggestion that all of the comedies that moved with the channel would appeal to a younger audience. Therefore I'm baffled to why new sitcom Sunny D debuted on the channel's online platform as it started with a Cosby Show-style opening that nobody under the age of thirty would be able to identify. Sunny D has been created by stand-up comedian Dane Baptiste who plays a fictionalised version of himself; a dissatisfied late twenty-something who still lives with his parents. Early on Dane hankers for a return to his childhood of the nineties where you could tape songs from the radio and be comforted by the goings-on on Dawson's Creek. I honestly feel that all of the nineties references would be lost on the younger demographic that BBC Three is supposedly trying to reach and I feel this one of the sitcoms main issues. In fact I do feel that Sunny D did skew very much to an audience of thirtysomethings who would recognise the references to Puff Daddy videos, Bill and Ted and Carlton Banks. In fact I think somebody at BBC Three watched this opener and told Baptiste that he needed to make Sunny D feel more contemporary hence a Kardashian gag being shoehorned into the last few minutes of the episode. But there are bigger issues with Sunny D starting with the fact that it's another sitcom in which the lead character addresses the audience directly. I always find this is a cop-out as it is much easier for Baptiste to introduce the characters by having Dane explain all of their flaws ahead of their introduction. However the biggest sin that Sunny D commits is that it's not very funny and this first episode, based around Dane's father's surprise birthday feels very old-fashioned in a lot of regards. From Dane being constantly being bothered by his extended family members to him getting drunk and accidentally proposing to his girlfriend there was nothing in Sunny D that I hadn't seen before. I also didn't find any of the characters particularly likeable and I found some of Dane's comments actively hurtful, especially through some of the insults he tossed in the direction of his twin sister. In fact the only positive I found here was the subtle performance from sitcom legend Don Warrington as Dane's softly-spoken father. Other than that this was another BBC Three sitcom that in my opinion had very little merit but then supposedly, despite all of its nineties references, Sunny D isn't a sitcom that should appeal to me anyway.

Matt, The Custard TV, 19th November 2016

I talk to: Dane Baptiste

Starting off as a 15-minute pilot last year as part of BBC Three's Comedy Feeds season, Dane Baptiste returns to our screens with a four-part series of Sunny D.

Elliot Gonzalez, I Talk Telly, 13th November 2016

Comic Dane Baptiste writes and stars in this new offering from the online channel, which kicks off tomorrow. In it, he plays a late-twentysomething office worker - also called Dane - who lives at home with his fed-up parents and is in constant competition with his twin sister. But when fictive Dane makes a rum-fuelled announcement at a family party, he might finally have to take some responsibility for his future. Part of the BBC's Black And British season, this is a new sitcom with plenty of 90s and 00s R&B on the soundtrack and a strong cast: alongside Baptiste, Akemnji Ndifornyen steals the show in episode one as arrogant Christian.

Hannah J Davies, The Guardian, 12th November 2016

TV preview: Sunny D, BBC Three

Dane Baptiste is a sharp, fast rising comedian and it is great to see that the BBC has given him a sitcom so early in his career. Sunny D came out of a Comedy Feed one-off and only consists of four episodes released online via iPlayer but it is still a positive step. And, more importantly, Sunny is funny.

Bruce Dessau, Beyond The Joke, 9th November 2016

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