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Here We Go (TV series)

Here We Go is a British sitcom created and written by Tom Basden for the BBC. It stars Jim Howick, Katherine Parkinson, Alison Steadman and Tori Allen-Martin alongside Basden. The pilot episode, originally titled Pandemonium, was broadcast on 30 December 2020, commissioned as part of the long-running Comedy Playhouse strand.

The first series was broadcast in 2022. A second and third were commissioned in 2023, which were shown from February 2024, and July 2025 respectively. A fourth series was commissioned in October 2025.

Premise

Set in the real town of Bedford, from the point of view of the handheld camera of teenage son Sam, and flashbacks to less chaotic times, the dysfunctional and eccentric Jessop family's trials and tribulations are documented in a raw, uncompromising way.

Cast and characters

Main

  • Jim Howick as Paul Jessop, Sam and Amy's uncool father, and Rachel's husband
  • Katherine Parkinson as Rachel Jessop, Sam and Amy's neurotic mother, Robin's sister, and Paul's wife
  • Alison Steadman as Sue Jessop, Paul's jovial mother
  • Tom Basden as Robin, Rachel's eager-to-please brother
  • Tori Allen-Martin as Cherry, Robin's strong-minded fiancée
  • Freya Parks as Amy Jessop, Paul and Rachel's sardonic daughter, Sam's sister, and Maya's girlfriend
  • Mica Ricketts as Maya, Amy's girlfriend
  • Jack Christou (2020) and Jude Morgan-Collie (2022–) as Sam Jessop, Paul and Rachel's stoic son, Amy's brother and the cameraman

Supporting

  • Ed Kear as Dean, Robin's surly mate
  • Jon Furlong as Jelson, Robin's friend
  • Esen Hurer as Kaye, Cherry's friend
  • Katy Wix as Kim Sinclair, a classmate of Rachel's from school (season 1 episode 2)
  • Mark Williams as Frank, a local painter with a conceited attitude towards his art (season 1 episode 3)
  • Tim Key as Ray, a former Olympic teammate of Paul's (season 1 episode 4)
  • Vincent Riotta as Alf, Sue's new boyfriend who's unenthusiastic about how she treats their relationship (season 1 episode 5)
  • Camille Ucan as Diane, an estate agent suspicious of Paul's undercover activities (season 1 episode 5)
  • Ninette Finch as Bren, a reticent friend of Sue's (season 1 episode 5)
  • Mark Cox as a policeman (season 1 episode 6)
  • Gia Hunter as Leah, a potential love interest of Sam (season 1 episode 6)
  • Brydie Service as Fara, a student on Rachel's course (season 2 episode 1)
  • Aidan Cheng as Xiaoming, a student on Rachel's course (season 2 episode 1)
  • Harry Enfield as Edgar (season 2 episode 2)
  • Yvette Robinson as Annie (season 2 episode 2)
  • Olivia Isaacs as Cass, a friend of Sam's (season 2 episode 2)
  • Ned Porteous as Ugly Chris, a chef and friend of Cherry (season 2 episode 3)
  • Andrew Brooke as Greg (season 2 episode 3)
  • Paul Longley as Fozzie (season 2 episode 3)
  • Sophie Wu as Zoe (season 2 episode 3)
  • Bobby Lockwood as Carl (season 2 episode 4)
  • Dolly Wells as Penny, Rachel's sister (season 2 episode 5)
  • Simon Farnaby as Boyd, Penny's husband (season 2 episodes 5 and 6)
  • Bonnie Adair as Sara (season 2 episode 5)
  • John Atterbury as John (season 2 episode 5)
  • Elena Dinca as Katya (season 2 episode 6)
  • Warren Caswell as Chief Superintendent (season 2 episode 6)
  • Patrick Miller as Ben (season 2 episode 6)
  • James Benson as Vicar (season 2 episode 6)
  • Jax James as Stanley (season 2 episode 6)
  • Preston Thomas-Gillespie as Adam (Christmas Special)
  • Alex Macqueen as Dermot (Christmas Special)
  • Abbie Murphy as Dr. Hirst (Christmas Special)
  • Ruby Wallin as Tia (Christmas Special)
  • Celeste Wong as Astrid (Christmas Special)
  • Mark Davison as Mike (Christmas Special)

Episodes

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Series 1 (2022)

Series 2 (2024)

Series 3 (2025)

Series 4 (2026)

A fourth series was commissioned in October 2025.

Production

Pandemonium

The show's pilot, Pandemonium, was confirmed as part of the announcement of the BBC's 2020 Christmas slate of programming in November 2020, having been commissioned earlier that autumn.

The pilot was shot over six days, and involved finding crew that were experienced in dealing with COVID precautions, which producer Tom Jordan admitted was initially difficult due to the amount of productions that were restarting at the time of filming; he said that a crew "who had worked on Covid-safe sets before was very helpful indeed as the masks and social distancing was second nature to them". Cast and crew were subject to a 'coloured band system', with different colour bands assigned to different members to ascribe how stringent COVID testing and precautions they should be subjected to. Cast and crew "wore masks at all times" and had their temperatures checked each day by COVID supervisors.

The show being filmed from the perspective of the Jessops' teenage son, Sam, and his handheld camera, meant that the scene at the end of the pilot involving the crashing of the family's car off a cliff onto the beach below would only have one take available, and "required incredibly detailed planning for weeks before". Director Ella Jones said this way of filming was something the crew "wanted to embrace", but had to balance the "home-video look" with ensuring it worked well with "comedic timing", and the expectations of the "broad BBC1 audience" meaning the show needed to be "both distinctive but also accessible". This meant "second camera perspective[s]" were added into the narrative at some points that were not as restrictive to what the audience saw, with the aim overall for "choreographed chaos" to "create something that felt amateur and spontaneous, thus enabling our audience to believe the home video conceit but not be distracted by it".

Here We Go

The pilot's commission to series was announced in November 2021. Basden explained that the premise of the series was inspired by his grandfather filming their family holidays as a child, and the "videos were often very funny by accident", and that he "liked the idea of a family talking to the camera and being aware that they were being filmed as it puts them under even more pressure to project positivity while everything is going wrong around them". He said that he had "wanted to write a sitcom about a family going on holiday for some time, as I think there's something really funny and high stakes about people under pressure to have a good time together, and the stress and anger this tends to produce instead".

The show's production team won an award at the Broadcast Tech Innovation Awards in 2022, with the Excellence in Audio Post-Production (Scripted) being awarded to Joe Cochrane and Elliot Bowell of Splice, who did post-production for Here We Go.

The second series was due to air in late 2023 but was pushed to early 2024. The third series was made available on BBC iPlayer on the morning of 25 July 2025, prior to the broadcast of the series starting later that day. The series was filmed from late October 2024.

U.S. version

In February, 2026, BBC Studios announced the development of a U.S. version in conjunction with Universal Television and Amy Poehler's production company Paper Kite.

Reception

Viewership

The first series averaged 1.4 million viewers on the night of broadcast, rising to 1.7 million with on-demand viewership.

The third series saw viewership on iPlayer increase by 70% compared to the second series, and viewership among 16-34 year-olds double.

Critical reception

Flora Carr reviewing on behalf of the Radio Times called the pilot episode "a lockdown comedy special with gallows humour" and gave it three stars out of five, while Ed Cumming for The Independent called it "a valiant effort at exploring our current predicament" and gave it four out of five stars.

Rachel Sigee, reviewing the first full series for the i gave series four out of five stars, stating that "there's great charm to its characters and their eccentricities" but having the sitcom supposedly filmed by the son "feels like a meta-complication it doesn’t need". Benji Wilson for The Daily Telegraph rated the series five stars out of five and as "an instant stone-cold comedy classic".

Broadcasts Miriam McHugh said the show was "a criminally underrated gem" that "didn't get the credit due when it was released, but is an entertaining entrant to the mockumentary canon".

References

External links