The Stage

BBC3 boosts original comedy output with 20 shows planned

Published Tuesday 15 March 2005 at 15:10 by Liz Thomas

Exclusive - BBC3 has commissioned a number of new comedies in a move to establish its position as the breeding ground for up-and-coming talent in the genre.

The channel has 20 comedies in development and is hoping to capitalise on recent figures, suggesting it is now the second most popular channel for comedy after BBC1. It is working with independent production company Talkback Thames to make a new sitcom entitled Woman/Man, created by The Office producer Ash Atalla.

There are also plans for a spin-off to the long-running Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps. Written by Susan Nickson, the eight half-hour shows are currently under the working title Grown-Ups and will be televised in the autumn. BBC3 controller Stuart Murphy told The Stage that the channel is looking to attract a wider audience and he was hopeful the production, which follows the lives and loves of two sisters, would provide the channel with a popular pre-watershed sitcom in a similar vein to My Family on BBC1.

Pett Productions, the indie owned by Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer, has also been commissioned to make a pilot all-female sketch show called Titty Titty Bang Bang.

Meanwhile the award-winning sitcom Nighty Night is back for a six episode run and hit show Little Britain will also return for a third series this year. Following on from its success and that of The Mighty Boosh, Murphy has commissioned another television show from a Radio 4 series aired at 6.30pm. The Message, a sketch show set up as a parody of a futuristic world, features artists that have never performed comedy on television before. Murphy said: “A big part of the channel’s remit is to give up-and-coming performers a chance to develop.”

Pilot sitcom, I’m With Stupid, scripted by former BBC3 talent award-winner Danny Peak, is to be turned into a series of six half-hour episodes. The show stars Mark Benton as a homeless man who strikes up an unlikely friendship with a disabled man who offers him somewhere to stay. Murphy said: “I think the lack of representation of people with disabilities on television is a disgrace. Programmes need to be reflective of the society we live in. This show isn’t about disabilities but there’s no reason why a wheelchair-bound person shouldn’t be in it.”