BBC orders Two Brothers, Merman comedies

The BBC has unveiled a raft of comedy commissions for BBC1, BBC2, BBC3 and BBC4, including one from Fleabag prodco Two Brothers Pictures and another starring David Tennant.

Shane Allen

Written by Daisy Haggard and Laura Solon for BBC3, Back To Life (6×30′) follows a woman (Haggard) who moves back in with her parents after spending more than a decade in prison for committing a terrible crime.

It comes from Two Brothers Pictures, which also produced the BBC3 series Fleabag, a show that BBC comedy controller Shane Allen said reflected the pubcaster taking a risk on new talent and reaping the rewards.

There She Goes (5×30′), meanwhile, comes from Merman, the production company founded by Sharon Horgan and Clelia Mountford, and is written by Shaun Pye for BBC4.

The comedy drama is about a nine-year-old girl (Miley Locke) with severe learning disabilities, her dad (Tennant), mum (Jessica Hynes) and brother (Edan Hayhurst).

Writer, director and actress Sharon Horgan

All the stories and characters are drawn from the real-life experience of Pye, whose daughter was born in 2006 with an extremely rare and so-far undiagnosed chromosomal disorder.

Multi-character sitcom Ghosts (6×30′) has been created for BBC1 by the cast of writer-performers from Horrible Histories, Yonderland and feature film Bill.

Ghosts follows a young urban couple who move into a country estate where restless spirits who have died there over the centuries reside. The show is a Monumental Television production in association with the creators.

Elsewhere, BBC3 will be piloting projects on its Comedy Slices strand, namely Diary of a Hounslow Girl (working title) from Ambreen Razia; In My Skin, from Kayleigh Llewellyn; and Tash & Ellie (wt), from writer-performers Natasia Demetriou and Ellie White.

Threesomes, meanwhile, is a new shortform strand that will give three comedy writers and performers the opportunity to bring their ideas to screen in a series of 3×3′ shorts.

Allen has also recommissioned the BBC2 series Motherland (6×30′), from Delightful Industries and Merman; and BBC3 series Pls Like (6×15′), from Shiny Button. It has also ordered a 30-minute Halloween special of BBC2 anthology series Inside No 9, produced by BBC Studios, which will be broadcast live on October 31.

Delightful Industries and Merman’s Motherland is set to return to BBC2

The comedy department of the BBC is also seeking to give up-and-coming talent the chance to make comedy writing their main focus for six months with its second Felix Dexter Bursary initiative.

The opportunity, offered by BBC Comedy in partnership with BBC Writersroom, aims to make a positive intervention to address the under-representation of Black, Asian and minority ethnic professionals in broadcasting.

“In a world where there’s more competition for established talent from an array of competitors we want to broaden and cement our commitment to finding the very best of new wave talent,” said Allen.

“We’re going to achieve that through a comprehensive talent ladder to provide opportunity to an array of emerging voices and performers.”