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.

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salt in each other's drinking glasses) or Martin's strange habits, such as walking around the house shirtless or eating out-of-date food.

[11] They are frequently interrupted by their strange but good-hearted neighbour Jim Bell, 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.

Occasional guest appearances were made by Martin's mother Cynthia Goodman, nicknamed "Horrible Grandma" by the boys due to her cruel and condescending treatment of the family.

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.

[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).