Avoidance: Release date, cast and latest news for Romesh Ranganathan sitcom

By James Hibbs

Published: Wednesday, 08 June 2022 at 12:00 am

Romesh Ranganathan has a brand new sitcom which is about to start on BBC One, and it co-stars some big hitters in the UK comedy scene.

Jessica Knappett (The Inbetweeners, Ghosts) and Mandeep Dhillon (After Life, Peacock) co-star in Avoidance, a series about a man with severe issues with avoiding confrontation, who runs away with his son when his wife tells him she’s leaving him.

The series is the first production from Rangathan’s own company, Ranga Bee, for the BBC and is co-created by Benjamin Green and Ranganathan himself.

Read on for everything you need to know about Avoidance on BBC One.

When does Avoidance start on BBC One

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Romesh Ranganathan and Jessica Knappett in Avoidance.
BBC / RangaBee Productions / Jack Barnes

Avoidance starts this week, so there’s not long left to wait! Episode one will air on BBC One and BBC iPlayer at 9:30pm on Friday 10th June 2022.

Ranganathan revealed that the series has been in the long time making, as he and co-writer Benjamin Green “had a version of this idea about five years ago and every now and then we would dip back into it and develop it further”.

What is Avoidance about?

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Romesh Ranganathan and Kieran Logendra in Avoidance.
BBC / RangaBee Productions / Colin Hutton

Romesh Ranganathan plays Jonathan, a man with severe conflict avoidance issues, who is forced to change for the sake of his son.

When his wife Claire decides to split up with him, Jonathan initially keeps insisting they just wait for the dust to settle. Claire on the other hand is adamant that they need to tell their nine year-old son Spencer as soon as possible. In denial, Jonathan runs away with Spencer to stay with his sister Danielle and her wife Courtney to avoid confronting his problems.

Ranganathan said that Jonathan’s “conflict-avoidant beta maledom is based on my own character, but I would like to think I hide it a bit better than Jonathan does.” He added: “The fact that Ben agreed it would be a good starting point for a comedy suggests I don’t”.

Avoidance cast – Who stars alongside Romesh Ranganathan?

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Mandeep Dhillon in Avoidance.
BBC / RangaBee Productions / Jack Barnes

While Romesh stars as Jonathan, the cast is rounded out by Jessica Knappet as Claire and Mandeep Dhillon as Danielle among others.

Here’s a full list of the Avoidance cast:

  • Romesh Ranganathan as Jonathan
  • Jessica Knappett as Claire
  • Mandeep Dhillon as Danielle
  • Lisa McGrillis as Courtney
  • Kieran Logendra as Spencer

Avoidance trailer

You can watch the trailer for Avoidance, which starts this Friday on BBC One, right here.