Episodes’ Stephen Mangan is set to star in a UK adaptation of Web Therapy, the Emmy-nominated Showtime series that was co-created by and starred Friends alum Lisa Kudrow. Channel 4 has ordered six-part half-hour comedy Hang Ups to be produced by the UK’s Slam Films. Mangan, who is co-scripting with Robert Delamere, will play a therapist with a checkered career who finds himself at a crossroads and starts treating patients via webcam.
Billed as a mix of farce and family sitcom, Hang Ups starts shooting later this year for broadcast in 2018. Mangan is taking on the series after five seasons starring with Kudrow’s fellow Friend Matt LeBlanc in Showtime’s Episodes.
The British actor will play Dr Richard Pitt whose group therapy practice has collapsed. Unable to conduct traditional appointments with his patients, he turns to weekly quick-fire sessions that take place online. His few clients present a catalogue of neuroses, phobias, issues, anxieties and psychopathies, but even the short sessions — which will be highly improvised — are not his greatest challenge. Pitt also sees his patience and temperament stretched to the limit by the daily interruptions of a demanding extended family, errant teenagers and his own trouble-filled past.
Kevin Loader and Mangan are exec producers with Louise Delamere producing and Robert Delamere directing.
FremantleMedia International, which has a development deal with Slam, will handle world distribution on Hang Ups.
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