It's all go for Sharon Horgan these days from starring in US comedy 'Game Night' and working on the next season of 'Catastrophe' to teaming up with her pal Aisling Bea for a new Channel 4 show.
Now it has been announced that she will co-create an upcoming six-part comedy series for RTÉ2 and UKTV called 'Women on the Verge'. Horgan will work alongside Lorna Martin, on whose book 'Woman on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown' the series is based.
The series has just begun production and is set to be filmed in London and Dublin and is being co-produced by Horgan's production company Merman as well as House Productions.
It will tell the darkly comic tale of three friends, all career women in their thirties at various stages of their lives, who share the same nagging concern – that whilst their friends and colleagues seem to be increasingly in control of their lives, their own seem to be moving in the exact opposite direction.
The series will star Kerry Condon (Three Billboards, Rome, Better Call Saul), Eileen Walsh (Catastrophe, Pure Mule, The Magdalene Sisters) and Nina Sosanya (Marcella, W1A, Last Tango in Halifax).
Kerry Condon will play Laura, who is in the process of potentially ruining her career in investigative journalism by sleeping with her boss. Her ambitions take a knock however when she appears to be supplanted in his affections by a bright and talented young blogger called Samara.
Laura is persuaded by Katie, played by Nina Sosanya, to seek professional help for her many issues in the form of a long-term commitment to intensive psychotherapy with the enigmatic ‘Dr F’ – who will be played by Sharon Horgan.
Meanwhile, Alison, played by Eileen Walsh, completes the trio as a character who, after a series of disastrous and border-line scary Tinder-based one-night stands finds herself back together with her ex Martin. Alison is hooked up to an electronic device that measures her fertility cycle and describes sex with Martin as "not too bad really, now that there’s some sort of point to it".
Merman co-founders Clelia Mountford and Sharon Horgan said: "We were huge fans of Lorna’s book, ‘Woman on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown', that told her personal story so compellingly and honestly. We are very happy that we’re finally getting to bring her story to the screen and destroy whatever privacy she has left!"
Justin Healy is executive producer for RTÉ on the series and said: "We are delighted to be working with Sharon Horgan, Merman and House Productions on this Dublin based comedy drama. The writing and performing talent across the series is phenomenal, and we are thrilled to be partnering with UKTV to bring this Irish comedy not just to RTÉ2, but to a UK audience.
"The fact that UKTV and Sharon were keen produce an Irish scripted comedy is testament to the fact that Irish people are incredibly funny and that we have some of the best creative comic voices around, something we will continue to develop and support at home and internationally."
No word yet on when we can expect to see 'Women on the Verge' but we will keep you posted.
