Car Share Unscripted

HOLiday MOnday 7 May, 10pm bbc1 comedy

Peter Kay and Sian Gibson return for a Car Share special in which they use no script and simply ad-lib as John and Kayleigh. The show follows them home on their daily commute, and just relies on their chemistry and their reactions to whatever comes on the radio.

When comedy series Car Share began in 2015, its star and creator, Peter Kay, never thought it would be a runaway hit.

Mostly set in a car, it followed supermarket assistant manager John Redmond (played by Peter) and promotions rep Kayleigh Kitson (Sian Gibson) as they chatted and sang along to the radio during their journey to work.

‘I was worried viewers may not have the patience to stay with a simple idea of two people commuting,’ says Peter.

But Car Share went on to win BAFTAs and break viewing records on iPlayer. The show was supposed to finish with the last episode of the second series last year when Kayleigh confessed her love to John, yet he struggled to express his feelings to her, causing her to walk off in tears. But due to demand from fans for more (including a petition!) there’s a special unscripted episode this week and a final-ever episode on 28 May.

The natural rapport between the stars, who are long-time friends, inspired the idea of an improvised episode. The stars have known each other since they met at Salford University in 1995 and bonded over their mutual love for comedy.

Experimental

‘Sian and myself often ad-lib when filming so we thought we’d give it a go for an entire episode,’ says Peter. ‘We just reacted to whatever came on the radio and just went with it, good or bad.’ But there was one problem…

‘We were always laughing,’ says Sian. ‘And nearly all of the laughter you see in Car Share is completely genuine…’