Friday Night Dinner is a British sitcom created by Robert Popper that aired on Channel 4 from 25 February 2011 to 1 May 2020. Starring Tamsin Greig, Paul Ritter, Simon Bird, Tom Rosenthal, and Mark Heap, it follows the regular Friday night dinner experience of the Jewish middle-class Goodman family in North London.^[1] Following the conclusion of the sixth series and Ritter's death in 2021, it was announced that the show would not return.^[2][3] The show is filmed using a single-camera setup.^[4]

The show received two BAFTA nominations in 2012. The first series was nominated for Best Situation Comedy, while Greig was nominated for Best Female Comedy Performance.^[5] In 2021, for his performance in the final series of the show, Ritter received a posthumous BAFTA nomination for Best Male Comedy Performance.^[6][4]

Friday Night Dinner depicts Shabbat dinner in the middle-class secular Jewish Goodman family, reflecting series creator Popper's own secular Jewish upbringing.^[7] It is set and filmed in suburban North London,^[8] with filming taking place in Mill Hill.^[9]

The family consists of mother Jackie (Tamsin Greig), father Martin (Paul Ritter), elder son Adam (Simon Bird), and younger son Jonny (Tom Rosenthal). The episodes follow the family as the sons arrive at the family home and proceed to their dinner, which is often interrupted by numerous things. Although some episodes are centred around Jackie's eccentricities, she is usually the straight character who tries to run a normal household but is disrupted by the rest of the family. Dinner is usually disrupted by Adam and Jonny pranking each other (for example, putting salt in each other's drinking glasses) or Martin's strange habits, such as walking around the house shirtless or eating out-of-date food.^[10] When something goes wrong, Martin is often heard shouting his catchphrase "shit on it".^[11] They are frequently interrupted by their strange but good-hearted neighbour Jim Bell (Mark Heap), who is attracted to Jackie and visits them due to his loneliness; he is usually accompanied by his dog, Wilson, of whom he is afraid. After Wilson's death, Jim adopts a new dog, whom he names Milson.

Jackie's neurotic best friend Valerie Lewis (Tracy-Ann Oberman), known as "Auntie Val" to Adam and Jonny, is a frequent visitor; Jackie's mother Nellie "Grandma" Buller (Frances Cuka) also visits. Occasional guest appearances were made by Martin's mother Cynthia Goodman (Rosalind Knight), nicknamed "Horrible Grandma" by the boys due to her cruel and condescending treatment of the family. Other guest appearances featured Nellie's suitor Mr. Morris (Harry Landis), who appeared in three episodes while Val's husband Larry (Steve Furst) briefly appears in two episodes.

There are elements of farce throughout.

For the 10th anniversary of the show, a special 90-minute documentary episode aired on Channel 4 on 28 May 2021, entitled Friday Night Dinner: Ten Years and A Lovely Bit of Squirrel.^[12] The documentary was dedicated to Paul Ritter, who had died from brain cancer seven weeks earlier.^[13]

In September 2011, Deadline Hollywood announced that Greg Daniels, who had adapted The Office for American television, would spearhead an American remake of the series for the broadcast network NBC.^[14] The remake was picked up for a pilot, written by Daniels and directed by Ken Kwapis^[15] and starring Allison Janney, Tony Shalhoub as the parents^[16] and Gary Anthony Williams as Jim (now renamed Mark). The pilot did not go to series.

In 2014, CBS bought an adaptation of the British show for the American market, as a "put pilot".^[17]

In 2016, a third attempt at an American remake was under development by CBS, with the title Sunday Night Dinner.^[18][19]

In 2022, Amazon Freevee ordered an American remake, with the title Dinner with The Parents.^[20] The series is set to premiere in the US on April 18, 2024.^[21]

• List of Friday Night Dinner episodes