Show of the Week: Men Up

This poignant British comedy drama travels back to the not-so-distant past of Swansea in 1994, where five men are struggling with the awkward issue of impotency.

Meurig, Colin, Tommy, Pete and Eddie are united in their pain, suffering in silence and questioning their manhood – that is until they receive a lifeline. The group is offered a place on one of the very first clinical trials for Viagra, a then-unknown drug that could just be the answer to their prayers.

This 1 x 90-minute scripted dramedy originally began life as a documentary with factual outfit Boom, reveals Davina Earl, executive producer at Quay Street Productions.

The firm was exploring a doc that would delve into the first Sildenafil trials, when the project took another direction. “Boom sensed it could make a great mainstream drama and immediately thought of the writer Matthew Barry to adapt as he has such a wonderfully sympathetic approach and comic sensibility,” says Earl. “Matthew immediately loved the idea and Quay Street Productions came on board the project as co-producer.”

Barry conducted extensive research on the real-life trials and created fictionalised characters to respect the confidentiality of the patients. “As a Welsh working-class writer, Matthew has an incredible talent for representing the sorts of men, and their partners, who would have participated in the trial,” says Earl.

“Matthew was able to create joyously real, three-dimensional, working-class characters who we don’t get to see enough of on screen. Theirs are stories of huge everyday heroism drawn with a lightness of touch and lots of laughs too.”

Tom Misselbrook, SVP of scripted sales and development at the show’s distributor, Cineflix Rights, adds that the series has a “unique alchemy” that should appeal to buyers around the world.

“[It is] laugh out loud funny in one scene and heartfelt and incredibly moving in the next. It’s an original story, that follows quite a taboo subject around one of the most famous little pills in the world – but has all the traits of a classic British comedy, with brilliantly written, distinctive characters at the heart of it, so there is a lot to like.”

The show also boasts two well-known and well-regarded producers in Nicola Shindler and Russell T Davies, while Misselbrook says that Cineflix Rights is “ expecting a lot of noise out of the UK” following its BBC One launch.

He adds: “We believe buyers from around the world will share our passion for this film following its launch at MIPCOM.”

Producers: Quay Street Productions & Boom
Distributor: Cineflix Rights
Broadcaster: BBC One (UK)
Logline: British comedy-drama in which a group of men, struggling with impotency, get a bounce back in their step on one of the first clinical trials for Viagra