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New BBC comedy pilots

Started by Ron Superior, July 27, 2017, 10:10:39 AM

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Ron Superior

QuoteThe BBC has announced a whopping 12 new comedy pilots, with casts featuring plenty of TVO favourites.

These pilots will air as part of 'Comedy Playhouse' on BBC One, 'New on Two' on BBC Two and 'Comedy Slices' on BBC Three.
The Other One, BBC Two

A sitcom about two sisters who had no idea the other existed until their father drops dead. Cathy has a fiancé, a Duke of Edinburgh Award and a pension while Cat has a pay-as-you-go phone. The only thing they have in common are their names. Both of them have always wanted a sister – just maybe not each other.

The pilot stars Rebecca Front, Ellie White, Lauren Socha (Catastrophe), Amit Shah (Stag) and Siobhan Finneran (Happy Valley). It has been written by Holly Walsh (Motherland), directed by Dan Zeff (Inside No. 9) and produced by Pippa Brown (Psychobitches).
Sticky, BBC Three

sticky

Animated sitcom following four best friends who attend a college located in London's mythical borough of Shatford. This deceptively boring scenario serves as a launchpad for epic adventure, heart-rending friendship, and increasingly sticky situations.

The pilot unbelievably stars Tom Hardy along with Tony Way, Tom Davis, Kayvan Novak, Javone Prince (Inside No. 9), Charlotte Riley (Peaky Blinders) and Arthur Darvill (Doctor Who). It has been created and directed by Ed Tracy (Fonejacker), and written by a team of writers led by Steve Burge (Mongrels).
Wannabe, BBC Three

Back in the girl-power heyday of the 90s, a hit single would easily get you 15 minutes of fame. But 15 minutes just isn't long enough for some people... Maxine never made it to the big time as part of teenage girl group Variety and now, as a middle-aged failing music manager, she finds herself in crisis, when the one act she looks after threatens to drop her. But Maxine has come up with a plan, and what she thinks the world is really missing is 'Mum Pop'.

The pilot stars Lily Brazier (People Just Do Nothing) as Maxine, alongside a cast including Nicholas Burns and Jim Howick.
Celebrity Voicemail, BBC Three

Kayvan Novak has adapted his acclaimed Radio 4 comedy, The Celebrity Voicemail Show, which imagines what it would be like to listen to the voicemails left on a celebrity's answerphone. In this pilot episode, Kayvan will imagine the answerphone messages that might have been left for George Lucas midway through his hectic, and often shambolic, first phase of shooting on Star Wars in the Tunisian desert.

The pilot has been produced by Matt Stronge (The IT Crowd) and directed by Kayvan Novak and Ed Tracy.
Mister Winner, BBC One

Photo by Idil Sukan/Draw HQ

A sitcom starring Spencer Jones (Upstart Crow) as Leslie Winner, a well-meaning but hapless chap who is prone to accidents, complications and landing himself in unusual and often somewhat dangerous situations. Leslie plans to propose to his girlfriend, Jemma Smith (Aimee-Ffion Edwards – Detectorists), but unknown to him, she is having doubts about their relationship as he doesn't take life seriously enough.

Jemma's parents will be played by Shaun Williamson (Extras) and Dorothy Atkinson (Mum), and there will also be a guest appearance from stand-up Romesh Ranganathan. The pilot has been written by Matt Morgan (Hospital People) and directed by Ben Palmer (Urban Myths).
Tim Vine Travels Through Time, BBC One

Master of the pun Tim Vine journeys back in time to the days of Robin Hood in a quest to mend a golden arrow and a broken heart.

Tim is in search of a celebrity for the grand opening of his antique shop, and it just so happens that his very first customer is presenter and Strictly Come Dancing champion, Ore Oduba, who asks Tim if he can mend his ancient golden arrow. Tim steps inside his special time travel Grandfather clock which takes him to Sherwood Forest in the days of Robin Hood and his band of merry men. Tim must get to the bottom of a mystery to repair the broken arrow and also help out Robin (who happens to bear an uncanny resemblance to Ore Oduba).

The cast includes Sally Phillips, Tim Key (Mid Morning Matters) and Marek Larwood (Big Field). This pilot has been written by Tim Vine and John Archer, directed by Barbara Wiltshire and produced by Baby Cow Productions (The Mighty Boosh, Hunderby).
The Pact, BBC Two

Two teenage friends make a pact that if they're both still single aged 35, they'll marry each other. Amy doesn't think it'll ever happen, but Andy, who's secretly in love with Amy, desperately hopes that it will.

Twenty years later, Amy (Sarah Solemani – Him & Her) and Andy (Brett Goldstein – Derek) have drifted apart. Andy  is divorced with a four year old son, but in a new relationship. Amy, meanwhile, has managed to avoid growing up entirely.  She lives in a flat-share, works behind a bar, and her relationships never seem to go beyond drunken one night stands.

Produced by Cunk on Shakespeare producer Sam Ward.
Other pilots include:

Static on BBC One, starring stand-up comedian Rob Beckett as a man who quits a job in London to move back in with his parents in their southeast London family home, only to discover they've just sold the house and moved to a static caravan park in Margate.

Famalam on BBC Two, a new sketch show where no area of the universe is off-limits.

Chinese Burn on BBC Three, following the escapades of three Chinese girls as they negotiate the trials of modern life in London.

Hailmakers on BBC Three, about two men, Saz and Sol, the country's lowest-rent entrepreneurs, as they find out that there's nothing harder than easy money.

Enterprice on BBC Three, about two young entrepreneurs in the early stages of rolling out their home delivery service, Speedi-Kazz.

More details on these pilots, including their air dates, as and when we get them!

Some interesting ones in here. Tims Key and Vine together, with added Sally Phillips!

Norton Canes

QuoteChinese Burn on BBC Three, following the escapades of three Chinese girls as they negotiate the trials of modern life in London

Got to say, working in an academic institution with a high proportion of Chinese students, the comic potential of this looks higher than the rest of the shows put together.

Gurke and Hare

I won't write any of these off as a result of the blurbs, but is there someone out there whose job it is to come up with a paragraph making something sound utterly shit? I think the most annoying bit is:

QuoteCathy has a fiancé, a Duke of Edinburgh Award and a pension while Cat has a pay-as-you-go phone.

THOSE AREN'T OPPOSITES! I genuinely think the ones that just have a one line description sound much much better for it. Apart from the one with Rob Beckett in it, buy you're always going to have that problem when you have Rob Beckett mentioned in the description.

Still, some excellent casting - as you say Key, Vine and Phillips (also Marek Larwood) should be at least watchable, similarly anything with Rebecca Front in it.

Ignatius_S

Read a little about the Tim Vine one and Static, pretty recently

More details at: https://www.comedy.co.uk/guide/group/bbc_comedy_pilots_2017/

'Producers say Chinese Burn smashes all the stereotypes about Chinese women "with a round-house kick"' (https://www.comedy.co.uk/online/news/2710/chinese_burn/)

Is it just me, or were they using a stereotype themselves.?

The Celebrity Voicemail sounds like an idea that would work best audio only.

As Sticky is an animated sitcom, I'm going to stick my neck out and say it's not going to buck the trend of UK animated sitcoms.

Very pleased to see that there's a sketch show in there.

Norton Canes

Quote from: Norton Canes on July 27, 2017, 01:06:35 PM
Got to say, working in an academic institution with a high proportion of Chinese students, the comic potential of this looks higher than the rest of the shows put together

Hang on. I can see that might be misconstrued. I mean the comic potential of Chinese students realizing how difficult most of this country's indigenous population find understanding and adapting to their way of life.

Norton Canes

Quote from: Ignatius_S on July 27, 2017, 01:09:11 PM
'Producers say Chinese Burn smashes all the stereotypes about Chinese women "with a round-house kick"'

Yeah.

OK, suddenly marginally less enthusiastic about this.

No, no, wait...

Quote[writers] Shin-Fei Chen and Yennnis Cheung say: "Chinese people don't get much representation on British TV, and when they do it's usually illegal immigrants, Triads or takeaway staff. Chinese Burn aims to tackle these stereotypes and share real East Asian experiences of living in London. This show's stories are straight-from-the-dragon's-mouth, no-MSG, authentic. 6 billion Chinese can't all be Wongs. We are more than the stereotypes. We are varied. We are different. But our stories are universal, so Brits can relate... mate

Maybe I should just watch it then work out what I think.

Ignatius_S

Quote from: Gurke and Hare on July 27, 2017, 01:08:27 PM
I won't write any of these off as a result of the blurbs, but is there someone out there whose job it is to come up with a paragraph making something sound utterly shit?...

Aye - one of my first thoughts would be just how hackneyed stone-cold classics could be made to sound.

Ignatius_S

Quote from: Norton Canes on July 27, 2017, 01:13:36 PM...Maybe I should just watch it then work out what I think.

I'll be doing that plan!

Phil_A

Quote from: Ignatius_S on July 27, 2017, 01:09:11 PM

As Sticky is an animated sitcom, I'm going to stick my neck out and say it's not going to buck the trend of UK animated sitcoms.


That description didn't do it any favours.  "...a college located in London's mythical borough of Shatford." Lolz.

And why does it "unbelievably" star Tom Hardy given that he's an actor who has lots of different roles in film and TV?

"Although based in reality, the freedom that animation brings allows Sticky to present an unlimited range of diverse characters and epic locations," reads the BBC press release. "Be prepared for the weird to collide with the epic. Plus Putin and Trump make guest appearances."

Yeah, it looks shit.


zomgmouse

Tim Vine's one looks ace. Will definitely be keeping a lookout for that.

BritishHobo

Seems to be a pretty decent cast in most of those, even if some of the premises don't sound amazing. But then boiling down most sitcoms to such a paragraph would sound blah. Man Down is one of the most sublime comedies in years, but summed up in a sentence, it's just 'a manchild tries to get his life together while living with his parents'.

Really excited to see Matt Morgan's new show. The Mimic is a sitcom I totally underestimated because of its premise, and it ended up being wonderful.

neveragain

Quote from: BritishHobo on July 27, 2017, 04:10:04 PM
Man Down is one of the most sublime comedies in years, but summed up in a sentence, it's just 'a manchild tries to get his life together while living with his parents'.

Sorry?

Gwen Taylor on ITV

Quote from: neveragain on July 27, 2017, 10:34:35 PM
Sorry?

Quite astute, yes it's also the plot to the Ronnie Corbett sitcom 'Sorry!'.

neveragain


Norton Canes

'Mister Winner' got made into a series. I know because I switched over the other night to catch the start of an episode where him and his mate were dressed as a Cyberman and a Weeping Angel to go to a Doctor Who convention. So I had to watch the rest.

Not good.

BlodwynPig

QuoteThe Other One

Sitcom about the unlikely friendship between two boring bachelors, Ralph Tanner and Brian Bryant.

BBC One sitcom about two tedious men. 13 episodes (2 series), 1977 - 1979. Stars Richard Briers, Michael Gambon and Michael Chesden.



Will give this a go.

neveragain

Quote from: Norton Canes on April 17, 2020, 10:53:56 AM
'Mister Winner' got made into a series. I know because I switched over the other night to catch the start of an episode where him and his mate were dressed as a Cyberman and a Weeping Angel to go to a Doctor Who convention. So I had to watch the rest.

Not good.

Perhaps the pandemic has lessened my critical faculties but I find it quite charming and inventive. Good physical humour.

Bazooka

Quote from: Norton Canes on July 27, 2017, 01:06:35 PM
Got to say, working in an academic institution with a high proportion of Chinese students, the comic potential of this looks higher than the rest of the shows put together.

Based on this material from them fuck no:

Chinese Burn - How Not To Date A Chinese Girl
https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/shinfei_chen/videos/


holyzombiejesus

Wasn't sure if we'd ever see Lauren 'She called me a p**i, a dirty bastard, and said, 'You're Asian, fuck off back to where you came from'' back on our screens.

The Other One is now on iplayer, and I've found I've been mostly enjoying it. They sell the two sisters becoming mates really rather well.

Joe Oakes

Quote from: Bazooka on April 17, 2020, 09:59:22 PM
Based on this material from them fuck no:

Chinese Burn - How Not To Date A Chinese Girl
https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/shinfei_chen/videos/

Crikey, I suppose at least they've smashed the stereotype that Chinese people have a sense of humour.