Elevator Pitch

Matt, Monty, Felix, Jennifer, Lynnie and Oscar are unlikely housemates whose living situation is largely out of their control. Housemates follows the first 6 weeks of their shared lives, and explores mental illness, sexuality, aging, and much more as they become a dysfunctional family.

The setting:

Housemates is set in a London house share; a common, but unexplored quirk of modern-day living. There is a split in the house between the older ones, trapped in this way of life (for various reasons), and the younger ones who are more student-y.

The story centres around Matt and Jennifer meeting again by coincidence after 15 years of not seeing each other. Their story gradually unfolds throughout the series in the present, and through a series of flashbacks revealing several twists about their time at university.

The Housemates:

MATT (38):

Matt is a no-frills, overweight gay man who suffers with (initially undiagnosed) anxieties, OCDs and depression. He oscillates between his dry, comical demeanour, and a more nervous, insecure persona. He is a copywriter, but always aspired to write comedy. He has unusual turns of phrase, world views, and quirks.

JENNIFER (38):

Jennifer is aloof, quietly sassy, and shares Matt’s dry sense of humour – she often quips at his expense. She is often flamboyant in her descriptions, and thought process, exaggerating to the worst case scenario, but in a theatrical way, rather than depressive. She is funny, warm and it’s her presence that ultimately leads to the house coming together throughout the series.

MONTY (23):

Vivaciously annoying, antagonistic, but exuding warmth like nobody else; Monty is the gel that keeps the house together. Simultaneously pulling people in while pushing them away, he epitomizes the energetic prankster ‘boy who never grew up’ (not to be confused with Oscar, who is a child who literally didn’t grow up).

FELIX (38):

A force to be reckoned with, Felix is a 38-year-old, 16-stone goth with a mane like a lion. He is short tempered, often vulgar, and doesn’t suffer fools (or housemates) gladly. An ex-military man, he has an incredibly dark sense of humour, and an unusual way of thinking. Felix is gruff and cantankerous, but loves his children and ex-wife.

OSCAR (23):

Oscar is 23, not that you’d know it. He comes across as slow, perhaps even challenged, but he is neither of those things. He is simply quiet, and ‘of his own world’. He has strange, child-like tendencies, and is playing these up perhaps in a response to Helen’s extreme over parenting, and general personality.

LYNNIE (24):

Lynnie escaped her small hometown for a journey of self-discovery and enlightenment, but instead, found herself here. Often working, or otherwise absent from the house Lynnie feels on the outside of a lot of what goes on, but doesn’t mind this.