The Stage

Channel 4 plays it for laughs this winter

Published Wednesday 2 November 2005 at 13:55 by Liz Thomas

Channel 4 is reuniting Rik Mayall, Nigel Planer and Peter Richardson for a one-off special of eighties alternative comedy The Comic Strip Presents…

The new show, which is based on the series that was part of the broadcaster’s line-up when it launched in 1982, will also feature Robert Bathurst and Doon Mackichan.

It is part of the channel’s winter season, which is heavy on comedy and entertainment. There is original comedy with The IT Crowd from The Office producer Ash Attala. Green Wing returns for a second series as does topical game show 8 Out of 10 Cats, again fronted by Jimmy Carr.

Kevin Lygo, Channel 4’s director of television, said Carr’s show was going to be a regular feature on Friday nights, with two series planned for next year. He said: “There will be one early in the year and a longish run with Big Brother as it worked well in that slot.”

Carr’s other show, The Friday Night Project, will return without him and will feature guest presenters including comedians Justin Lee Collins and Alan Carr.

The broadcaster’s head of entertainment Andrew Newman explained: “The decision not to have Jimmy was out of necessity. We couldn’t have him on 8 Out of 10 Cats and The Friday Night Project as for part of the year they go out one after the other. It would be too much.”

Lygo is hoping to reinvigorate the channel’s Friday night schedule and boost audience share with a new US acquisition, as the channel has struggled to win the kind of ratings generated by hit series Friends and Sex and the City, which drew to a close last year. My Name Is Earl is about a petty crook, who wins the lottery, prompting him to change his life and set about correcting his past wrongdoings. The show has pulled in strong ratings for American broadcaster NBC.

“When you think that Friends was there 50 weeks a year with 4 or 5 million viewers… when we had Friends at 9pm and Frasier at 10pm, you could grow your own comedy in between them,” said Lygo.

Shameless and Desperate Housewives also return in the new year, as does new US thriller Invasion, about a family that finds itself at the centre of a conspiracy to mask an alien takeover.

There are also new dramas in the pipeline, such as Karim’s Story, which will examine the Bradford riots in 2001. All in the Game, which will star Ray Winstone, tackles corruption in football.