Are you searching for a crime-riddled comedy with a stellar cast to binge? The BBC has released a first-look trailer for Can You Keep a Secret?, an upcoming sitcom starring Dawn French that sounds like the perfect addition to your New Year watchlist.

Told in six bingeable 30-minute episodes, the series follows recently widowed Debbie Fendon, who shocks her unsuspecting son when she reveals that her husband is not actually dead. After William (Mark Heap) is mistakenly pronounced deceased, Debbie seizes the opportunity and decides to wait out the life insurance payout in order to protect her family’s future.

This one is definitely at the top of my watchlist – not only does it star the one and only Dawn French, who I’ve loved ever since watching her play Geraldine Granger in The Vicar of Dibley, but it also boasts a supporting cast including Mark Heap (Friday Night Dinner) and Craig Roberts (Submarine), who are bound to keep viewers giggling from start to finish. Plus, fans of hit sitcom This Country should take note, as the series is written by Simon Mayhew-Archer, one of the creative forces behind the BBC favourite.

Keep reading to find out everything you need to know about Can You Keep a Secret?, which has been dubbed a “story of an odd little family you haven’t met yet, but that you already know”.

What to expect from Can You Keep a Secret?

The show follows Debbie Fendon, a granny, lawn bowler, tinpot dictator and recent widow who will stop at nothing to make sure her family is protected.

The synopsis reads: “Unfortunately, most of the time the person they really need protecting from is her. When her hermit-like husband William (Mark Heap) unexpectedly dies, she makes an outlandish decision that will put the family under more pressure than ever before.

“Because Debbie isn’t actually a widow and William didn’t really die – he was just mistakenly declared dead and the two retirees found themselves staring down the barrel of an opportunity too good to pass up. Just a few months hiding out in the loft waiting for the life insurance to pay out and then they can live out their golden years in peace.

“This all proves a bit much for their easily frazzled son Harry (Craig Roberts) who – despite his emotional shortcomings – has managed to acquire a family of his own and a potentially life-changing insurance payout from his father’s ‘death’.

“What’s especially tricky for Harry is that his pathologically pragmatic wife Neha (Mandip Gill) is a local police officer and, if she finds out about her in-laws’ fraudulent ways, the Fendons might have an issue. Clearly Harry – reunited with a dad he’s just buried and the reality that his parents have turned into a pensioner version of Bonnie and Clyde – suddenly has a lot more to juggle. Sandwiched between two generations of toddlers, he finds himself navigating a very common stage of life – only this time, it’s criminal.”

Who stars in Can You Keep a Secret?

The show stars Dawn French (French & Saunders, The Vicar of Dibley), Mark Heap (Friday Night Dinner, Green Wing), Craig Roberts (Submarine, The Fundamentals of Caring) and Mandip Gill (Doctor Who, This Time Next Year).

What have the creatives said about the show?

Speaking ahead of the show’s release, writer and executive producer Simon Mayhew-Archer said: “Having the chance to make this show is the greatest joy of my career, and I’m enormously grateful to Dawn, Jon and Tanya for the opportunity.”

Kenton Allen, executive producer and Big Talk Studios CEO, added: “Working with Dawn French has been a career-long ambition and to have her inimitable comedic brilliance join forces with the extraordinary Mark Heap and the Simons – Simon Mayhew-Archer and Simon Hynd – is every producer’s dream.

“We’re delighted to welcome such talented creative minds into the Big Talk family and can’t wait for viewers to see this highly original family comedy in all its glory.”

Can You Keep A Secret? will be available to watch on iPlayer and BBC One from 7 January in the UK. It will also be available to watch in the US on Paramount+.