Create Anything has signed Ephraim Lisk to develop, write and star in Dr Abu: The Legacy, expanding his creator IP into a scripted family series. The company also signed a two-year scripted and unscripted development deal with Banijay UK, whose portfolio includes Peaky Blinders and Black Mirror.

Directed by BAFTA-nominated Stewart Kyasimire, whose credits include Prime Video’s Four Kings and the BBC’s The Wedding, the series sees Lisk play three generations through performance-led age transformation. Before a completed episode has been released, seven days of promotional material generated 4.2 million cross platform views, an early response beyond expectations from the audience that established Dr Abu.

A FAMILY STORY AT ITS HEART

Dr Abu: The Legacy follows Abu and his son Ephraim as they begin a new life in a new town.

Ephraim wants to become the biggest creator in the world and break the internet. Dr Abu arrives with 17 degrees, unshakeable pride and his own firmly established idea of what his son’s future should look like.

When Ephraim’s school raises concerns and recommends therapy, what initially feels like an affront to a proud father begins to reveal a much deeper divide between two people who love one another but have very different ideas about ambition, identity and success. Then the internet falls.

A catastrophic outage is expected to leave the world offline for up to 18 months, removing the platform on which Ephraim has built his future and forcing father and son to confront what remains when performance, status and constant connection disappear.

The therapy appointment creates a further complication when Dr Abu discovers that the person waiting across the room is Professor Waffo, his longstanding rival.The result is a character-led family dramedy about fathers, sons, ambition, pride, cultural inheritance and what families choose to pass from one generation to the next.

FROM CREATOR IP TO SCRIPTED TELEVISION

Lisk developed Dr Abu directly with his audience, building the character through comedy, family dynamics and cultural observations that have become instantly recognisable to millions of viewers. For Create Anything, the attraction was never simply the size of that audience.

“What interested me immediately wasn’t just Ephraim’s reach,” said Kyasimire. “It was that Dr Abu already felt like genuine IP. Ephraim had created a character, a language and a point of view, and there was an extraordinary audience around it who understood that world instinctively.”

“They know how Abu thinks. They repeat the lines. They notice the smallest changes. Ephraim had already created something people genuinely cared about. Our opportunity was to give that world the time, performance space and filmmaking language of long-form scripted television.”

Dr Abu: The Legacy is not intended simply as a higher-budget version of Lisk’s original skits. The series gives him the opportunity to develop as both a long-form writer and leading actor while preserving the creative instincts and audience relationship that established Dr Abu.

“I’ve always known there was a bigger world behind Dr Abu,” said Lisk.

“The skits let people meet these characters and laugh with them, but there are relationships, history and things within this family that need more time to explore.”

“I wanted to push myself as a writer and actor and see what Dr Abu could become when we gave the characters that space. We’re keeping what people love, but we’re opening the world up.”

ONE PERFORMER. THREE GENERATIONS.

The series will see Lisk perform three generations of the Abu family, playing teenage Ephraim, Dr Abu in his fifties and Grandpa Abu.

The characters are distinguished through writing, voice, physical performance and performance-led age transformation, allowing Lisk to inhabit three generations of the same family while preserving expression, comic timing and emotional detail.

Character work and age transformation are supported by a Blackmagic camera and DaVinci Resolve production workflow. The technology does not replace the performance. Lisk does not perform the effect. He performs the character.

The production principle is simple:

PERFORM FIRST. TRANSFORM LATER.

Grandpa Abu will be the next major character introduced, extending the family story across three generations and revealing more of the history that shaped Dr Abu himself.

AN EARLY RESPONSE BEYOND EXPECTATIONS

Rather than waiting until a completed series was ready for release, Create Anything and Lisk began introducing Dr Abu: The Legacy through key art, scripted scenes, character material and transformation films from the developing production.

The response exceeded expectations.

In the first seven days, the promotional rollout generated 4.2 million platform-reported views across Instagram, TikTok and Facebook, before a completed episode of the long-form drama had been released.

The response was driven by the audience that first established Dr Abu, alongside viewers discovering the expanded world for the first time.

“We knew there was an audience, but the scale and speed of the response went well beyond what I expected at this stage,” said Kyasimire.

“We were introducing a very different version of Dr Abu. The performances are different, the storytelling is longer and the visual language has changed. Almost immediately, we were watching people repeat dialogue, discuss the characters and share scenes.”

“Coming from traditional television, that is fascinating. Normally, you can spend a considerable amount of time developing and producing something before the audience enters the conversation. Here, people are forming a relationship with the scripted world while we are still building it.”

“We haven’t released a television series and generated 4.2 million views. We have started introducing the series and generated that response from the promotional material alone. For me, that is actually the more interesting part.”

The early response provides Create Anything and Lisk with an unusually direct view of how audiences are reacting to the characters, performances and developing story world.

It does not replace the discipline of professional television development. It adds a live audience relationship to that process.

A FAMILY SERIES FIRST

Despite the technology, audience data and unconventional route into development, the creative ambition remains rooted in warm, character-led British family television.

One of Kyasimire’s reference points is Channel 4’s Desmond’s.

“I think about Desmond’s a lot, not because we’re trying to recreate it, but because it understood how powerful it could be to put a Black family at the centre of a world and simply allow them to live,” said Kyasimire.

“They could be funny, difficult, loving, frustrating and completely human. You wanted to spend time with them. That’s important with Dr Abu. The comedy can bring you into the world, but the family has to be the reason you stay.”

The world of Dr Abu: The Legacy will expand beyond Abu and Ephraim into a broader family ensemble, exploring how each generation understands love, discipline, ambition and responsibility differently.

CREATE ANYTHING AND BANIJAY UK

Dr Abu: The Legacy is being developed through Create Anything, the independent production company founded by BAFTA-nominated director and executive producer Stewart Kyasimire.

Create Anything signed a two-year scripted and unscripted development deal with Banijay UK in 2025, bringing the company into development relationships with Workerbee and The Comedy Unit.

Banijay’s wider international portfolio spans globally recognised television brands including Peaky Blinders and Black Mirror.

Kyasimire’s directing credits include Prime Video’s Four Kings, on which he served as Series Director and Director of Photography, and the BBC’s The Wedding, which he executive produced and directed.

“Working within the Banijay relationship has given Create Anything exposure to companies making television at real scale,” said Kyasimire.

“What excites me about Ephraim is bringing something different into that experience: creator-originated IP with a direct audience relationship already around it.”

“We’re not trying to take what makes Ephraim distinctive and turn it into conventional television. The opportunity is to give him the infrastructure and creative space to develop as a writer and actor while protecting the instinct that built Dr Abu in the first place.”

THE LEGACY ROOM

The next stage of Dr Abu: The Legacy will include the launch of The Legacy Room, a dedicated digital home for audiences following the development of the series.

The Legacy Room will bring together material already introduced through the campaign alongside extended films, behind-the-scenes access, cast interviews, production diaries, transformation material and selected new content from the developing world of Dr Abu.

The project is also moving towards its first screening, where Grandpa Abu will be revealed for the first time.

For Lisk, the next chapter is about bringing the audience that established Dr Abu with him as he enters a larger scripted world.

“They’ve watched Dr Abu from the beginning and they’ve watched everything start to change,” said Lisk. “Now they can see what we’re building.”

“None of this happens without the people who watched those early videos, shared them, quoted them and continued to support Dr Abu as the world grew.”

“This is the next chapter for Dr Abu, and for me as an actor and writer.”

DR ABU: THE LEGACY

Original Dr Abu Character Created by Ephraim Lisk

Series Developed by Stewart Kyasimire and Ephraim Lisk

Written by Ephraim Lisk

Directed and Executive Produced by Stewart Kyasimire

Produced by Create Anything

NOTES TO EDITORS

Audience reporting

The 4.2 million figure relates to platform-reported promotional views generated across Instagram, TikTok and Facebook during the first seven days of the campaign.

The campaign included key art, scripted scenes, character material and age-transformation films. No completed episode of Dr Abu: The Legacy had been released during the reporting period.

The figure should not be described as television ratings, episode views or 4.2 million unique viewers.

About Dr Abu: The Legacy

Dr Abu: The Legacy is a scripted family dramedy developed from the original Dr Abu character created by Ephraim Lisk.

The series expands the character into an intergenerational story about fathers, sons, identity, ambition, family expectations and life during an 18-month collapse of the internet.

About Create Anything

Create Anything is an independent production company founded by BAFTA-nominated director and executive producer Stewart Kyasimire.

The company develops scripted, unscripted and creator-originated intellectual property for television, streaming platforms and direct audiences.

Create Anything signed a two-year scripted and unscripted development deal with Banijay UK, working with Workerbee and The Comedy Unit across its developing slate.

Press materials

Approved photography, key art, audience information, production stills, transformation material and interview opportunities with Stewart Kyasimire and Ephraim Lisk are available through the Create Anything Press Office.

MEDIA AND PARTNERSHIP ENQUIRIES

Create Anything Press Office
createanything.co.uk
createanything.co.uk/drabu

Issued by Create Anything.