A few years back, I spent a couple of days on the set of Arrested Development, and got to chat and hang out with the cast. With the show just about to restart on Netflix, now seems as good a time as any to bring the resulting article out of the vault…

When I visited, it was during a weird period. The show was winning awards and starting to garner a cult following, but it was clear from all involved that they knew time was running out, and each new day they got to be a Bluth was a blessing.

A few days before the feature went to press, news came that Fox had cancelled the show. Cue some hasty rewriting and re-editing, which is evident in the piece below.

Anyway, it’s an interesting article to revisit as a relic of the pre-streaming age, and a reminder that everything is subject to change.

Great programme with an uncertain future? No real reason for being cut? Star-studded cast but tucked away in a dumb slot? All ingredients present and correct. Mike Shaw spends some time on-set with Arrested Development’s Bluth family.

It’s one thing visiting a movie set – it’s something that no-one has yet seen – but quite another to be on the set of one of your favourite shows, with the characters making their way around you. It’s a very, very odd, but brilliant, experience.