The BBC has announced a brand-new drama called California Avenue which is premiering in 2026. Written, created and directed by award-winning storyteller Hugo Blick, California Avenue is a six-part drama that will be about complex family dynamics, personal growth, emotional reconnection, and the charming world of a sleepy caravan park in 1970s England.
The drama will feature Lela, a woman on the run, played by Erin Doherty. Lela and her 11-year-old child arrive at a remote riverside caravan park, hoping to escape their past and settle for a fresh start. Lela hopes that she can reconnect with her estranged parents, Jerry and Eddie, played by Bill Nighy and Helena Bonham Carter, who also will be executive producers on the series.
Tom Burke joins the cast as Cooper, a charming, unpredictable man who truly brings a new level of complexity to a close-knit group. The drama takes place as Lela arrives and disrupts the community's peaceful park, turning it into a multi-dimensional drama comprised of secrets from the past, forgiveness, and beginnings.
California Avenue is a family drama, set in the mid-1970s rural English countryside, that combines warmth, humour, and pathos. It is a mixture of drama with some romance and levity along the way. The park scenes present an emotional landscape of family life and personal challenges.
The caravan park is more than just a location, as it serves as a character in the story as well. The caravan park chronicles the healing of the characters who inhabit it. Events in the series force Lela and her child to frame previously ignored trauma and communities to confront hidden truths and undisclosed scars.
Made by Drama Republic and Eight Rooks, this is another collaboration between Hugo Blick and the BBC, following his prior works The English and The Honourable Woman, which were both well-received by the BBC. BBC Drama Director Lindsay Salt commented that the series will deliver ‘a journey of a life time’, while Executive Producer Greg Brenman, called it 'beautifully emotional storytelling'.
The production will begin filming in the summer of 2025 and in locations across Hertfordshire and surrounding country side. The series will appear on BBC One in 2026, with an option for iPlayer.
Image Source:BBC
