This week, Sky Living HD announced it has commissioned new comedy series: Gates and The Spa.

Gates (5 x 30 mins) has a cast headed by Sue Johnston (The Royle Family, Waking The Dead), Tom Ellis (Miranda, Merlin), Joanna Page (Gavin and Stacey, Love Actually) and Adam Deacon (Kidulthood, Being Human) set in the “all too familiar chaos of the school gates”.

The plot centres on “Mark and Helen who”ve moved to the South East where their nine-year-old daughter is starting at a new school. And they”re about to discover what happens when your children choose your friends.”

The Spa (7 x 30 mins, 1 x 60 mins) is written by writer/actor Derren Litten (Benidorm) and produced by Tiger Aspect. It is set in “a Hertfordshire spa that boasts it can cure anyone; the fat, the thin and the lazy. But sadly that couldn”t be further from the truth…”

Jane Johnson, Director of Sky Living: “I am thrilled to announce Gates and The Spa, our first original scripted comedies which set the tone and ambition of what we”re looking for on Sky Living for future projects. Both shows will sit at the heart of our autumn schedule and further demonstrate Sky”s commitment to producing original British content across the whole channel portfolio. We”re hugely proud that Derren Litten is bringing his unique brand of humour to Sky Living HD.  His creation for the channel marks the start of Sky Living HD”s investment in home-grown comedy talent both on screen and off.”

Lucy Lumsden, Head of Comedy Sky, added: “Following our recent comedy successes including Stella, Spy and Trollied, it’;s an extremely exciting time for Sky. This latest wave of announcements demonstrates that we are hungry to work with the best talent and expand our ambitions for comedy across our other channels.”

Gates is executive produced by Lucy Lumsden and Saskia Schuster for Sky and Laurence Bowen from Feelgood Fiction. It will be produced by Izzy Mant. The Spa is executive produced by Lumsden and Schuster for Sky and Sophie Clarke-Jervoise and Ben Cavey from Tiger Aspect. It will be produced by Lucy Armitage.