Saxondale

Saxondale is an English television situation comedy programme, starring Steve Coogan and co-written by Steve Coogan and Neil Maclennan. The series is directed by Matt Lipsey and produced by Ted Dowd. Coogan and Henry Normal served as executive producers. The show is set in Stevenage, showing middle-class suburbia. Produced by Baby Cow Productions, the programme commenced broadcast on BBC Two from 19 June 2006. It features Coogan as Tommy Saxondale, a former roadie with anger issues who now owns a pest control business. Other principal characters include Saxondale's Welsh girlfriend, Magz (Ruth Jones), and his naïve assistant, Raymond (Rasmus Hardiker). Morwenna Banks, Mark Williams, Greg Davies, Ben Miller (who script-edited the series and also directed the first episode) and Liza Tarbuck also feature. Comedian Matt Berry composed the incidental music for the series and appeared in Tommy's therapy class as a yuppie like character in two episodes of the second series. According to a BBC press release, over the course of the series Saxondale "gets his eyesight improved by a prostitute, almost befriends a celebrity, kneecaps an annoying hippie... and experiments with women's makeup." Coogan describes his character as "genuinely witty, while still being a bit of a dick".BBC America began airing Saxondale in November 2006. During an interview with Jonathan Ross on 12 September 2008, Steve Coogan announced that Saxondale would feature on his 2008 live tour of the UK.