Vicious’, a.k.a. Vicious Old Queens, starring Sir Ian McKellen and Sir Derek Jacobi, will make its way to PBS in the States beginning Summer 2014. The British comedy, which aired on ITV this past Spring in the UK, tells the story of a constantly bickering couple who have lived together in a small Covent Garden flat for nearly 50 years. But underneath all their vicious co-dependent fighting, they deeply love each other.

Freddie (McKellen) was a budding actor and Stuart (Jacobi) a barman when they first met but their careers are now pretty much over and their lives now consist of reading books, walking their dog and bickering. Today, Freddie is an over-the-hill actor whose career consisted mainly of bit parts. Although his career never really took off, he insists on behaving as if it did and still does. Stuart is a former bar manager with an aged mother named Mildred who remains clueless as to her son’s relationship with Freddie.
 

 
The original title for the series was to be Vicious Old Queens. It was changed to Vicious when, jokingly, McKellen took offense to it stating, “…I’m not old!“. The six-part series, which was recently commissioned for a second series amidst some mixed reviews from critics for series 1, also stars Frances de la Tour (Harry Potter) and Iwan Rheon (Game of Thrones). The creator/writer for Vicious is former writer and executive producer of Will & Grace and Family Guy, Gary Janetti, with veteran sitcom director, Ed Bye (Red Dwarf, My Family, directing.

For UK fans of the series, a new Christmas special of the series is in the works for a 24 December broadcast on ITV.