New British Sitcom Ketchup Officially Launched and Filming in Marbella

Ketchup launched on Saturday 4^th of October as part of the Marbella International Film Festival and the first series is now being filmed

Marbella 04^th October 2025 – Fans gathered outside the Red Dog Cinema to see the arrival of stars of stage and screen Kevin McNally and Sandra Dickinson, who were in town to launch their new British sitcom Ketchup at the Marbella International Film Festival.

Ketchup has been created by Joe Cawley, author of the bestselling More Ketchup than Salsa memoirs. Based on his experiences, this new British sitcom will follow a hapless British couple who attempt to run a bar on the Costa del Sol, with colourful expats and locals thrown into the mix. Joe describes this new show as “a ménage à trois of Benidorm, Cheers and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.”

Joe and his fiancée Joy were on the red carpet at the Marbella International Film Festival, alongside the stars and the rest of the production team, to launch this new show with a bang.

Ketchup will be filmed between Marbella and the UK and is being directed by and starring the actor Kevin McNally, best known for playing pirate Joshamee Gibbs in the Pirates of the Caribbean film franchise. He commented, “I am really looking forward to working alongside a group of very talented people and coming up with something I think is going to be a really big hit!”

It also stars American actress Sandra Dickinson, who is best known for playing Trillian in the 1981 series The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. At the launch she said:

“It has been a weekend of firsts! First film festival red carpet and first “best actress award”, on my first visit to Marbella …. The beautiful place where it all happens!! I loved filming the scenes from Ketchup. Pure delight, full of twists and turns and the gaiety of conflict!!!”

Marbella International Film Festival brings together artists and creators to present their talents to the commercial world of film professionals, financiers and distributors. Mac Chakaveh, Director of the festival is proud to have been able to launch Ketchup at this year’s event. “Ketchup is an exciting new sitcom project which is being developed in Marbella with support of Marbella international Film Festival, which is achieving the objectives of developing the film industry in the Marbella region.”

Filming of the first series is already underway.

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Joe & Joy’s Story

Joe and his fiancée Joy moved from Bolton in the UK to Tenerife in 1991 with the dream of running a bar. They had never run a business, had no bar experience and spoke no Spanish and so faced a lot of challenges along the way.

He shared the reality of their dream of life in a foreign land in the award-winning series of books More Ketchup than Salsa. As well as winning the Best Travel Narrative from the British Guild of Travel Writers, the books have been described as; “Fantastic, hilarious, painful. Completely un-put-downable!”.

These books are now being turned into the expat sitcom project Ketchup, with Joe as Screenwriter and Producer and Joy as Producer. Ketchup is a co-production between Ketchup Productions Ltd New World Films, with a stellar production team behind it, who are all excited to bring his books to life.

Find out more about Ketchup and follow their journey of making the show on their website and social media channels.

Website – https://ketchupsitcom.com/

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/KetchupTheSitcom/

Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/ketchupsitcom/