They first worked together during the filming of St. Trinian’s.
And now Gemma Arterton and Rupert Everett are teaming up again for Sky’s new series Funny Woman, in which she plays a beauty queen striving for TV fame.
It’s truly an old-school reunion for the St. Trinian’s Gang, with director Ol Parker, Headmistress Rupert and the gorgeous Gemma reuniting for the drama 15 years later.
school reunion! The St. Trinian’s Gang join forces, with director Ol Parker, headmistress Rupert Everett and the gorgeous Gemma Arterton reuniting 15 years later in a new drama for Sky
The Funny Woman series is a sitcom based on the novel by Nick Hornby. Arterton plays Barbara Parker, a regional beauty queen (Miss Blackpool) who moves to London in search of TV fame.
Bald and heavily made-up, Everett is barely recognizable as her agent, Brian Debenham.
The comedy was written by Morwenna Banks, who also brilliantly adapted Mick Herron’s Slow Horses for Apple TV+.
Arterton says of the show, “It’s a heartwarming story of an ambitious woman who dreams of making people laugh.
Together Again: Funny Woman is a sitcom based on the novel by Nick Hornby. Arterton plays Barbara Parker, a regional beauty queen who moves to London in search of TV fame. Everett is almost unrecognizable on the series (pictured together in 2007).
“It’s going to be something special. It’s an honor to work with such an incredible team and to be reunited with my very first director, Oliver Parker.”
Speaking of her character, Arterton added, “Barbara Parker is pretty goofy. She’s got a lot of comedy in her bones, and yet she’s quite glamorous.
“She’s a real clown, but a real working-class girl.”
Filming has been underway since 2021 when Gemma was spotted looking every inch the sixties beauty queen for the Sky Original show.
The former Bond Girl, 36, sported the iconic Sixties hairstyle while filming nightclub scenes in an old Liverpool bank vault.
Having pulled up the sticks to call London home, the leading lady is being offered a role in a groundbreaking new sitcom that will influence British comedy for decades to come.
Reunion: Gemma said of the new series: “It’s going to be special. It’s an honor to work with such an incredible team and to be reunited with my very first director, Oliver Parker. She is pictured in 2007 with Rupert Everett, Caterina Murino, Colin Firth and Talulah Riley
Gemma said: “It’s a heartwarming story of an ambitious woman who dreams of making people laugh – it’s going to be something special.”
In addition to Clare-Hope Ashitey, Arsher Ali and Alexa Davies, the cast also includes Emily Bevans, Leo Bill and Matthew Beard.
While Gemma, who played Strawberry Fields in 2008’s Quantum of Solace, is certainly thrilled to play Barbara, last year she said of her Bond role that she wouldn’t choose a similar role again.
The Kent actress, who got her big break when she was 21 in the Bond film starring Daniel Craig, said her character didn’t have much to do in the film.
Speaking to The Telegraph, Gemma, who has set up her own production company, Rebel Park, which aims to involve women in all aspects of filmmaking, said: “I know I wouldn’t choose a role like this right now.
“Because it was funny and cute, but didn’t really have anything to do with it — or a backstory.”
Throwback: The Kent actress, who got her big break when she was 21 in the Daniel Craig-starring Bond film, said her character didn’t have much to do in the film (pictured at the premiere of The King’s Man in 2021).