ALAN CARR always hoped his comedy Changing Ends would be Northampton’s answer to hit royal mini-series The Crown.
And his autobiographical yarn is well on its way to a coronation as I can reveal ITV has ordered not one, but two more series.
Alan’s self-penned show is based on his own life growing up in the Midlands in the Eighties as the gay son of a Fourth Division football manager.
Now the new storylines will see the action move into the Nineties as Young Alan heads into his teens.
Since Changing Ends launched last year, it has been streamed over 13 million times on ITVX and is the broadcaster’s most watched comedy.
Alan said: “To get your own sitcom recommissioned for a series is the most wonderful news ever, but to have TWO series recommissioned is utterly mind-blowing and such a huge compliment, which I do not take lightly.
“I know how much this show has resonated with viewers and I promise I won’t let you down — and for someone whose actual life at times feels like a sitcom, believe me there are more tales to be told.
“Two series commissioned, eh?
“My dream of Changing Ends becoming Northampton’s answer to The Crown is two steps closer to being a reality.”
Alan told Oliver Savell, who plays Young Alan, the good news himself on a trip to theme park Thorpe Park and shared the footage online last night.
A source added: “Changing Ends launched exclusively on ITVX and then headed to terrestrial telly six months later, so built incredible pace and its final viewing figures were impressive.
“ITV greenlit series two before the first had even landed on the main channel, so it’s not surprising to hear a third was under way.
“But landing a fourth commission is a real feat.”
The two series will again come from the makers of Gavin & Stacey and Alan Partridge, Baby Cow Productions.
Alan always hoped his show, in which he starred as the older version of himself, would run and run.
He told me: “Let’s get it up to me now in the present day!”
Young Ollie’s got a job for life.