Staged(2020) -

Unwilling to let the production die, their underconfident director, Simon (played by Evans himself), attempts to keep rehearsals going via videoconference. What follows is less about acting and more about:

While other "lockdown TV" felt forced, Staged thrived on its authenticity. Though the episodes are scripted, the actors frequently riff and improvise, leading to moments of genuine vulnerability and razor-sharp wit. It leaned into the awkwardness of virtual professional hierarchies and the "new way of doing things" that we were all struggling to navigate. A Star-Studded Surprise Staged (@staged2020) / Posts / X - Twitter Staged(2020)

: David hiding in various rooms to escape his many children and Michael sitting in his kitchen in Wales. Unwilling to let the production die, their underconfident

: A hilarious rivalry over whose name should come first on the billing. It leaned into the awkwardness of virtual professional

: The show features their real-life partners, Georgia Tennant and Anna Lundberg, who often serve as the much-needed voices of reason. Why It Worked

Created by Simon Evans, the series follows fictionalized, highly exaggerated versions of Tennant and Sheen. The setup is simple: the duo was set to star in a West End production of Luigi Pirandello's Six Characters in Search of an Author , but the pandemic brought the curtain down before it could even rise.