ITV signs comedians Gervais and Murray

Published Tuesday 27 June 2006 at 16:25 by Liz Thomas

Paul Jackson, ITV director of entertainment and comedy, has signed up Ricky Gervais and Al Murray for new primetime shows and is vowing that there will be high profile comedies broadcast at 10pm in the schedules next year.

Gervais has penned a television version of his best-selling books Flanimals and joined up with two of the team from Wallace and Gromit’s Aardman Animations to develop this six-episode series, set to air in the evening on Sundays.

Comparing the project to hit series Creature Comforts, Jackson explained: “It is not a children’s animation - it is something for all the family. Think of Walking with Dinasours and Ricky Gervais doing David Attenborough talking in hushed tones. He will do the narration and possibly some of the creatures.”

Meanwhile the network has also commissioned award-winning comedian Al Murray to host his own primetime eight-part comedy chat show, titled Al Murray, The Pub LandLord’s Happy Hour, and two more one-off specials.

“He’s interviewing star guests but it is driven by him - a bit like Dame Edna Everage. Al is an extremely talented performer and we are also doing a one-off sketch show with him because he has other characters he wants to try out. He’s not just the Pub Landlord,” added Jackson.

The executive added that he was keen to try half-hour comedy out at 10pm because it was an underused and underperforming slot that could be used to showcase new shows in the genre and pull in audiences. He said there were no appointment-to-view programmes on ITV at the time. “People are not in habit of watching ITV at that time,” he commented, “We have got to put shows there and we are going to have to find shows people want to watch and put them there.”

The news comes at a time when revenue from advertising is rapidly falling and ITV is desperate to attract younger, more upmarket viewers to the main channel. It is overhauling its programming to concentrate on major “brand” programmes and “event TV” as well as signing up well known faces.

Director of television Simon Shaps has said he will scale back the number of single or two-part dramas and will replace them with cheaper shows, and the network’s programme-making arm ITV Productions will stop producing 90-minute drama specials and will concentrate on high-end period and contemporary pieces. This autumn will include a Jane Austen season and £6million sci-fi drama Primaeval in a bid to rival Doctor Who. There will also be more US acquired shows, which have a huge appeal with the demographic the network is now aiming for.

Shaps recently said that the early 4-6pm daytime slot, where Channel 4 has forged ahead with hits such as Deal or No Deal and The Paul O’Grady Show, was also an important target.