About "The Worst Week of My Life"

The first series of the "Worst Week Of My Life" followed the story of Howard Steel (Ben Miller) and Mel Cook (Sarah Alexander) in the week leading up to their wedding. The seven episodes were a roller-coaster journey through the bizarre and chaotic world of Howard, who consistently fails in his attempts to impress his future in-laws, whilst attempting to piece together a life that is constantly collapsing around him.

The week started badly for Howard when his ex-secretary delivered a bombshell at the office party, publicly revealing a past sexual indiscretion with far-reaching consequences for Howard. But if Monday was bad, he could never in a million years have imagined the events which would befall him later in the week. Neither could Mel's parents, Angela (Alison Steadman) and Dick Cook (Geoffrey Whitehead). When they welcomed Howard into their family they had no idea their future son-in-law was about to wreak havoc in their lives – not even Granny Cook, Mel's sister Sophie or the dearly-loved family dog were spared in a week during which one disaster followed another!

Series 2, broadcast in late 2005, saw newly married Howard and Mel have another disastrous week. The couple were meant to be moving into their new house however it accidentally blew up and so Howard and Mel had to move in with Angela and Dick - cue lots more embarrassing situations. Poor old Howard manages to burn Dick's CBE, get accused of sexual harassment at work, get 'caught' dogging in a car park with Eve, out Fraser as homosexual, ruin his parents-in-law's house, break Dick's special rocking horse, touch a pregnant woman inappropriately by accident (it wasn't Mel!), get fired, get Eve sacked too, crash a few cars, hurt a blind aunt... plus much more! No wonder he isn't flavour of the month with the Cook family!

In 2006 the BBC broadcast three specials titled "The Worst Christmas Of My Life". In the episodes Howard and Mel were looking forward to their first Christmas as a family with their new baby daughter, Emily. However for Howard, and those close to him, life is rarely that simple! From suicidal secretaries to maniacal relatives, homicidal boyfriends and belligerent Santas, circumstances conspire to make it a Christmas to remember – for all the wrong reasons.

Co-writers, producers and directors Mark Bussell and Justin Sbresni created this popular series.  Mark explains: "With Worst Week we wanted to write a high octane comedy packed full of memorable visual jokes. Visual comedy when done well is always the most rewarding, in my experience". Justin adds: "We've always been huge fans of farce and slapstick, which have almost become devalued words. At times, though, we do feel a little bit guilty about putting poor Ben through the mill. One night in Putney, Mark and I were both complaining about the cold so went off to get our coats, quite forgetting that Ben was standing next to us, naked and absolutely freezing!". Despite his constant blunders, there is something quite endearing about Howard that people seem to relate to, as Mark and Justin explain: "I think we all see a bit of ourselves in Howard. We're all capable of making the mistakes Howard does but something, an inner voice perhaps, tells us to back off and stop. Unfortunately for Howard his inner voice has gone AWOL".

The Worst Week of my Life is currently being re-made for an American audience by CBS television. It follows a previously un-successful pilot in 2005 by Fox. Despite the show heading abroad the BBC have indicated they will be making no more UK episodes. Alison Steadman, who plays Angela Cook in the UK series says: "The BBC, for reasons best known to themselves, have cancelled it. I was so upset. Best to go out on a high, they say. How many times have we heard that? I bet it's a huge hit in the US."