‘The care service in need of help’: Watch trailer for Jo Brand’s social work sitcom

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xpd9jbddr_k[/youtube]

This Thursday at 9pm sees ‘Damned’, a new social work sitcom written by Jo Brand and Morwenna Banks, screens on Sky Arts. Check out the trailer above. Brand, a former mental health nurse, has previous form in taking a comic look at public services with her comedy Getting On set in an NHS ward.

Here’s a blurb on the show from the Sky Arts website…

“Irritable, menopausal single parent Rose (Jo Brand) is having a bad day. After leaving her three sick children to be cared for by her mother, she breaks her phone, drops her coffee and arrives late for work at the social services department.

There’s no respite in the office, though, as Rose finds the floor as chaotic as her home. Martin (Kevin Eldon), a former colleague who was let go due to mental problems, has managed to get into the building again, while Nat (Rebekah Staton), a new temp devoid of any common sense, is struggling to get to grips with simple tasks on her first day.

Rose’s experienced, yet jaded, colleague Al (Alan Davies) helps her through the morning, taking every opportunity to mock and tease the colourful characters that make up the rest of the floor. Al hates the bureaucracy that comes with his job and consequently finds himself in constant battle with his pedantic and badly-dressed co-worker Nitin (Romesh Ranganathan), a former policeman obsessed with performance targets.

Rose’s day gets gradually worse, a check on her mother and children leads her to discover they have all disappeared. Returning to the pandemonium of her office in a state of panic, Rose quickly finds herself faced with a crisis that threatens to throw her career into jeopardy.”

Although the show is currently billed as a one-off, The British Comedy guide points out that Sky Arts have previously used the Playhouse Presents slot to road test new ideas for longer series.