There are rumours that the show has been sold to the US. More when we get it.
24 May 2001:
My Hero has returned and it's a faster-paced and even funnier than the first
series. BBC1 screens the new series at 8.30pm on Mondays. Catch it!
Tuesday, 21 August 2001
My Hero voted Best SitCom of 2000
The Radio Times (25 August) revealed My Hero had been voted Best
Sitcom of 2000 to the present (I know - we're only in 2001!). So will there
will be another series? Well, the ratings - roughly nine million per episode
would suggest that it might happen. It was the top BBC entertainment programme
for much of its season two run.
There are rumours that the show has been sold to the US. More when we get it.
There are rumours that the show has been sold to the US. More when we get it.
Tuesday, 17 April 2001
My Hero sets for return
Rumours this series had been axed were ill-founded! The new
series starts screening on BBC1 on 14 May 2001.
Here's news on the series direct from the show's creator, Paul Mendelson, sent to me on 17 April 2001:
Dear Mr. Freeman,
A friend of mine directed me to your site, which I found very interesting. I am the creator of the BBC series My Hero and I would firstly like to thank you for your kind words about it. If I may correct a couple of factual points.
The series has definitely not been axed. It was very successful, attracting an average of nine million viewers over its two weekly showings (Friday evening/Sunday afternoon repeat) and was the first comedy series for years which people have watched as a family, a fact of which I am particularly proud. (I created and wrote May To December and So Haunt Me so I am a great believer in pre-watershed comedy). It has also been sold around the world.
The delay in the transmission of the second series has been purely one of scheduling. (We did in fact have our Christmas special on December 22nd). The new series is now due to begin in early May. Hopefully, if the audience is maintained, we'll be commissioned for a third.
My Hero has absolutely nothing to do with the Lee Hall project. I created the idea over six years ago and we were already well into the development of My Hero and had made a pilot, when Broadcast mentioned the Dawn French/Stephen Tompkinson venture. I don't know what has happened to it. I believe he was a stranded alien who landed up in an English hospital and got his knowledge of the world through television, but not a superhero in any sense of the word.
I would be very grateful if you could correct your site, as it never looks good for a writer to be perceived as having 'borrowed' a fellow writer's idea - especially one as gifted as Lee Hall.
The show is an affectionate dig at superheroes , comics and alien visitors and the strength of the supporting cast -- particularly Geraldine McNulty as the the miserable Mrs. Raven -- helped this show generate strong ratings during its first season screening on BBC1. The show is more fantastical than Third Rock from the Sun but this clash between Ultronian and Human cultures is a worthwhile Friday night diversion.
No relation: Contrary to earlier postings on this site, My Hero has no connection with a show pitch from Spoonface Steinberg author Lee Hall, which was intended as a vehicle for Dawn French and Stephen Tompkinson. In an article that appeared in the 16 October 1998 issue of the weekly trade magazine Broadcast, the BBC were reported to have commissioned Hall to write an SF comedy Ted and Alice, described as about a nurse who falls in love with a visiting alien.
This show finally surfaced as a three-part comedy drama set in the Lake District, broadcast in early 2002. Dawn French plays a tourist information officer who meets the alien, Ted (Stephen Tompkinson), who has come to earth to find love.
The plot gets complicated when secrets held by the locals start to filter out and Alice's boyfriend, Barry, causes problems for the couple. Jacinta Peel produced this show, with BBC controller of comedy entertainment Jon Plowman and Sita Williams at Granada as executive producers.
Here's news on the series direct from the show's creator, Paul Mendelson, sent to me on 17 April 2001:
Dear Mr. Freeman,
A friend of mine directed me to your site, which I found very interesting. I am the creator of the BBC series My Hero and I would firstly like to thank you for your kind words about it. If I may correct a couple of factual points.
The series has definitely not been axed. It was very successful, attracting an average of nine million viewers over its two weekly showings (Friday evening/Sunday afternoon repeat) and was the first comedy series for years which people have watched as a family, a fact of which I am particularly proud. (I created and wrote May To December and So Haunt Me so I am a great believer in pre-watershed comedy). It has also been sold around the world.
The delay in the transmission of the second series has been purely one of scheduling. (We did in fact have our Christmas special on December 22nd). The new series is now due to begin in early May. Hopefully, if the audience is maintained, we'll be commissioned for a third.
My Hero has absolutely nothing to do with the Lee Hall project. I created the idea over six years ago and we were already well into the development of My Hero and had made a pilot, when Broadcast mentioned the Dawn French/Stephen Tompkinson venture. I don't know what has happened to it. I believe he was a stranded alien who landed up in an English hospital and got his knowledge of the world through television, but not a superhero in any sense of the word.
I would be very grateful if you could correct your site, as it never looks good for a writer to be perceived as having 'borrowed' a fellow writer's idea - especially one as gifted as Lee Hall.
Our apologies for posting erroneous information, now corrected,
and many thanks to Mr. Mendelson for taking the time to pass on news on the
show' second season.
Previously: After
a successful first season, then controller of BBC1 Peter Salmon
announced the
renewal of My Hero. Although it was originally scheduled to air in autumn
2000, the second season is now set to air in May 2001, according to author Paul
Mendelson. The series has been shown on both BBC1 and BBC Choice in the UK.The show is an affectionate dig at superheroes , comics and alien visitors and the strength of the supporting cast -- particularly Geraldine McNulty as the the miserable Mrs. Raven -- helped this show generate strong ratings during its first season screening on BBC1. The show is more fantastical than Third Rock from the Sun but this clash between Ultronian and Human cultures is a worthwhile Friday night diversion.
No relation: Contrary to earlier postings on this site, My Hero has no connection with a show pitch from Spoonface Steinberg author Lee Hall, which was intended as a vehicle for Dawn French and Stephen Tompkinson. In an article that appeared in the 16 October 1998 issue of the weekly trade magazine Broadcast, the BBC were reported to have commissioned Hall to write an SF comedy Ted and Alice, described as about a nurse who falls in love with a visiting alien.
This show finally surfaced as a three-part comedy drama set in the Lake District, broadcast in early 2002. Dawn French plays a tourist information officer who meets the alien, Ted (Stephen Tompkinson), who has come to earth to find love.
The plot gets complicated when secrets held by the locals start to filter out and Alice's boyfriend, Barry, causes problems for the couple. Jacinta Peel produced this show, with BBC controller of comedy entertainment Jon Plowman and Sita Williams at Granada as executive producers.
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