Heading Out

Heading Out is a British sitcom created by and starring comedian Sue Perkins. It was first broadcast on BBC Two on 26 February 2013. Heading Out tells the story of Sara, a veterinarian who is given an ultimatum by her friends to tell her parents that she is gay. Perkins had the idea for the sitcom for around ten years, before she developed the confidence to write it. Heading Out was commissioned for a full series in April 2012 and production began in September that year. The show was not commissioned for a second series. Premise Sara is a popular and skilled veterinarian, who has not told her parents that she is gay. On the eve of her fortieth birthday, Sara's friends Jamie (Dominic Coleman), Justine (Nicola Walker) and Daniel (Steve Oram) give her an ultimatum: either she tells her parents the truth or they will do it for her. To help her out, Sara's friends get her to attend a series of sessions with Toria (Joanna Scanlan), an eccentric life coach. Things begin to get better for Sara when she meets Eve (Shelley Conn). Production Conception On 23 August 2012, it was announced that the BBC had commissioned the six-part comedy Heading Out, which was created and written by Perkins. The BBC's Executive editor of Comedy Commissioning, Kristian Smith, called the show "a warm, intelligent and brilliantly funny sitcom." While Perkins stated that Heading Out "might well be the thing that I'm most proud of. It's been a joy to work on, and I hope that joy proves to be infectious." Perkins revealed that she had had the idea for Heading Out for ten years, before she developed the confidence to write it. She knew that she wanted to write about someone who was stuck and whose friends decided to take drastic action to "save her from her own inertia." The idea slowly began to take shape and developed into the narrative of a woman who struggled to tell her parents that she was gay, until her friends drove her to parents' house on her birthday, so she could come out to them. The comedian revealed that she is a fan of thrillers and wanted to have a ticking clock element to the show, so she thought Sara's coming out would be a good thing to do. In 2011, Perkins told her agent, Debi Allen, about the idea and a meeting with a BBC comedy commissioner followed shortly after. Perkins was advised to work her idea into a six-part sitcom, which she initially resisted doing as she saw it more as a comedy drama instead.