After five years off the air at Britain’s Channel 4, the cult comedy series Toast of London will return with a spin-off series set in the United States. Series co-creator, Arthur Mathews (Father Ted, Toast of London), told Chortle that he’s written five-year’s worth of new material that takes the show’s protagonist, Steven Toast, to Hollywood.
British comedy star, Matt Berry (What We Do In The Shadows, The IT Crowd), plays the series’ titular role, Steven Toast, a disillusioned middle-aged actor seeking widespread notoriety. Unlike Steven Toast, Berry himself has found tremendous success as both a performer and musical artist. In fact, the actor’s busy schedule is why Toast of London never continued on to a fourth season, despite its success at Channel 4, via Vulture.
Toast of London’s time off the air has only made the series’ more popular, with The Independent crediting streaming platforms such as Netflix for the show’s rabid and cult-like following in both the UK and abroad. A rising awareness of the show from an international audience has only increased the demand for the continuation of Toast of London‘s absurdist comedy.
Though there has been no concrete news regarding a return of Steven Toast since the last episode of the series aired in 2015, there has still been some sporadic content to tide fans over. Toast on Toast, a fictional autobiography of the actor, hit book store humor sections shortly after season three came to an end in 2015. Additionally, the beginning stages of quarantine granted Berry some unexpected down-time, in which he revisited the character of Steven Toast in the form of brief audio sketches posted to YouTube.
Chortle reports that “Berry first sparked rumours of fourth series back in 2017” on a talk show by vaguely eluding that Steven Toast would one day return “but giving no further details.” Berry’s Toast of London co-creator, Mathews, finally shed light on those comments from 2017 in his conversation with Chortle on Monday. Experiencing a bit of a career slow-period in 2016, Mathews penned five-year’s worth of Toast of America, “in case it ever came back” (Chortle).
The day Mathews prepared for in 2016 has finally arrived, as Berry has agreed to reprise the role of Steven Toast for Toast of America. The series will move from Channel 4 to the BCC and see Steven Toast try, once more, to find late-career success, this time in Hollywood. However, the series will not be shot on location, but rather a sound-stage in Britain, as Mathews notes is common for many BBC shows set in Hollywood, via Chortle.
While Mathews comments sounds as though the spin-off is still in it’s early stages of development at the BBC, Vulture predicts a possible 2021 premiere for Toast of America.