Are you in the market for a comedy? Channel 4 has quietly revealed a first look at new sitcom Pushers – and it’s hitting screens sooner than you might expect.
Written by Rosie Jones and Peter Fellows, Pushers is based on an award-winning Comedy Blap (Disability Benefits) and stars Rosie Jones in her first ever sitcom, alongside Vera’s Rhiannon Clements and Adolescence’s Jon Furlong.
Find out everything we know so far…
What is Pushers about?
Set in Sheffield, the six-part series follows Emily (Rosie Jones), who has just had her state benefits “cut to shreds after being made redundant”. As “a young woman with very little left to lose”, Emily turns to alternative methods and begins to build “an illegal drugs empire”.
The synopsis continues: “But Emily isn’t your average street-dealing dope peddler – she’s sharp, funny, biting, highly educated – and on top of all that, she has cerebral palsy.
“People have underestimated Emily her entire life. If they’re not patronising her for completing the most menial of tasks, they’re pretending she’s not there. What better disguise could there be for criminal activity than to be entirely written off by the same broken system which exists to protect the law?”
Who stars in Pushers?
Alongside Rosie, other cast members include Ryan McParland (Say Nothing, Halo) as Ewen, Jon Furlong (The Last Kingdom, Adolescence) as Sean, Lynn Hunter (The Personal History of David Copperfield, The Tuckers) as Pat, Rhiannon Clements (Vera, Power of Parker) as Jo, Ruben Reuter (The Dumping Ground, The Syndicate) as Harry, Libby Mai (We Are Lady Parts, The Chelsea Detective) as Hope, Trevor Dwyer-Lynch (Coronation Street, The Moor) as Minibus Masir and Clive Russell (Game of Thrones, One Piece) as Emily’s dad, Clive.
© James Stack/Channel 4What have the cast said about it?
Ahead of its release, Rosie spoke to the Radio Times about her inspiration behind penning the show.
“Having cerebral palsy means that society underestimates me. So we thought about how far we could push that notion.
© James Stack/Channel 4“The idea of me being a drug dealer and going under the radar because I’m a slow little lady made us laugh.”
Despite featuring a range of characters with differing disabilities, Rosie was clear that this aspect of the show shouldn’t need to be emphasised.
“We’ve created so many three-dimensional, flawed disabled characters beyond a typical representation of disability, which is normally: the vulnerable one, the victim, the asexual one, the one that doesn’t have any agency, drive or control.
“You don’t see that at all in Pushers. The same goes with queerness. Emily is an out gay woman. In episode one, you see that she has a huge crush on her female boss, but she never says, ‘Hello, I’m Emily, I have cerebral palsy and I’m a gay woman’ – because it’s not how people talk in the real world. Representation of minorities is so important, but what isn’t important is making a big deal out of it.”
© James Stack/Channel 4Praise for its predecessor
The commission for Pushers follows the award-winning Comedy Blap, named Disability Benefits, which was created by Rosie Jones, Peter Fellows and Tom Thostrup.
The Comedy Blap was named “Best Newform Drama Series” at the C21 International Drama Awards in 2022.
Channel 4’s Comedy Blaps have historically been a development breeding ground for other series commissions, including We Are Lady Parts, Stath Lets Flats and Home and Dead Pixels (E4).
Where to watch?
Pushers will be available to watch on Channel 4 on Thursday 19 June at 10pm.
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