Television French's sitcom
Cuckoo, co-created and co-written with
Kieron Quirke started to air on
BBC Three and
BBC One in 2012, with the second series in 2014 and the third series in 2016. The series launch became BBC Three's most-watched comedy launch, beating the record set by
Bad Education which debuted the previous month. Greg Davies was nominated for a
BAFTA for Best Male Performance in a Comedy Programme, for his role in
Cuckoo. At the
British Comedy Awards,
Cuckoo
was nominated for Best New Comedy Programme and Greg Davies was nominated for Best TV Comedy Actor.
Cuckoo stars:
Andy Samberg (first series only),
Greg Davies,
Taylor Lautner (second series onwards),
Helen Baxendale,
Esther Smith (second series onwards),
Tyger Drew-Honey and
Tamla Kari (first series only). French has twice been awarded the title of Hotshot (representing UK writing) by
Broadcast magazine (2006 and 2008). He was writer and script editor for two series of
BBC's
Man Stroke Woman starring
Nick Frost,
Nicholas Burns (actor),
Amanda Abbington and
Daisy Haggard. He was co-creator of (
ABC Family) US sitcom
Roommates, and co-creator and co-writer of
ITV2's mystery dramedy
Trinity starring
Charles Dance and
Claire Skinner. In 2026, he co-wrote the seventh episode of Series 15 of BBC crime drama series
Death in Paradise, alongside Alexandra Carruthers.
Film French's film Crocodile, directed by Gaelle Denis, was selected for Cannes Critics’ Week 2014 and won the Canal Plus Award at the
2014 Cannes Film Festival. It was nominated by BIFA for Best British Short 2014. It was winner of the Signis Prize at Guanajuato International Film Festival, Mexico 2014. It was winner of the Channel 4 Best Short Film Award at Encounters Short Film and Animation Festival 2014 French's short film Groove is in the Heart, directed by Bijan Sheibani, was produced by The Guardian and The Royal Court Theatre. It was subsequently selected as part of the BFI film season 2015. French is currently writing a film about David Bowie and Iggy Pop's time in Berlin.
Theatre French is currently writer in residence at the
Birmingham Repertory Theatre. His version of
Henrik Ibsen's
Hedda Gabler, "Heather Gardner", was produced by
Birmingham Repertory Theatre in 2013. French's first play,
Bear Hug, won the
Royal Court Theatre Young Writers Programme and was subsequently produced at the theatre. It has since had productions in Italy, Germany, Ireland and Poland. His second play,
Gilbert is Dead performed at
Hoxton Hall, London, in November 2009. His play for young people
The Red Helicopter was performed at the
Almeida theatre, London, in August 2010.
The Guardian listed French as one of the UK's "young stars in the ascendant" in 2005.
Music French spent several years as the bassist of UK band
Mr Hudson and the Library. French played under the alias Maps Huxley, and co-wrote the song "One Specific Thing" from the album
A Tale of Two Cities. He left the band to pursue writing in September 2007. He co-wrote the opening song of
Pixie Lott's latest album
Young Foolish Happy with
Mr Hudson,
Cathy Dennis and
Pixie Lott. == References ==