Lockdown Comedy 'Staged' Moves to BritBox for Its Final Season This March

The coronavirus pandemic changed a lot about the world of entertainment. Lockdowns, filming delays, and new production restrictions shuffled and pushed back the release dates of almost every popular series to some degree or other. Even a lot of the kinds of content we consumed during the early days of pandemic living went through some pretty weird phases (looking at you, Tiger King!) But not everything was terrible. After all, we'd have never gotten a series like Staged in the Before Times.

A comedy about life in lockdown, the series is little more than a high end Zoom call, particularly during its first season, as Good Omens stars David Tennant and Michael Sheen basically play exaggerated versions of themselves in a fictional universe where they've been tapped to star in a West End production of Luigi Pirandello’s 1921 play Six Characters in Search of an Author. (Which is something I wouldn't exactly hate to see happen in real life, is all I'm saying.) But with the COVID-19 pandemic raging, their director Shawn Evans decides to hold rehearsals remotely, and comedy ensues as those meetings devolve into...well, what all our meetings were like back then.

The series' second season got even more meta, satirizing and poking fun at various elements of Hollywood life and productions as the industry began to get back into gear. Its third will aim to wrap the story of Staged up, taking tentative steps back into the real world even as it completely falls further into its own show within a show (and even play within a show) format.

The BritBox series' description doesn't really include any Season 3 details, but it does offer a pretty succinct overview of what to expect from the show.

David Tennant and Michael Sheen (playing themselves) were due to star in a production of “Six Characters in Search of an Author” in the West End. The pandemic has put paid to that, but their director (Simon Evans) - also playing himself is determined not to let the opportunity pass him by. He knows how big a chance this is for him and turns his attention to cajoling his stars into rehearsing over the internet. All they need to do is read the first scene, but throughout the series they come up against a multitude of oppositional forces: distraction, boredom, home-schooling and their own egos.

Alongside Tennant and Sheen, the cast also includes their partners Georgia Tennant and Anna Lundberg, various real-life family members, and, if the previous two seasons are anything to go by, some surprise high-end celebrity cameos. (Previous seasons featured Judi Dench, Whoopi Goldberg, Samuel L. Jackson, and more.)

With most COVID restrictions having been lifted (or at least eased significantly) around most of the world, the premise of Staged is less edgy and/or necessary than it once was, so it makes sense that this third season wraps up the story of the slightly larger than life Tennants and Sheens. But never say never -- did any of us think this show would be back for a second season? Let alone a third?

Staged Seasons 1 and 2 arrive on BritBox on Wednesday, March 1 with Season 3 set to premiere on March 28.