Laughing Stock: Final shortlist

We are very pleased to announce that the final shortlist for the Laughing Stock competition is:

Sarah Seth

John Dorney

Elliott Kerrigan

Mathilda Gregory

Shazad Mohammed

Andrew Parkhill

Jo Williams

Daniel Moulson

David Byrne

Our judges - Cheryl Taylor, Simon Nye, Rebecca Front, Adil Ray and Kate Rowland were hugely impressed by the standard of entries. Read Kate and Cheryl's feedback below:

Kate Rowland, Creative Director of New Writing at the BBC

It was amazing after all the work, from both writers and readers, to be sat in the pub with Cheryl Taylor, Simon Nye, Rebecca Front and Adil Ray judging the final shortlist. I had promised the judges 12 scripts - but in the end they got 14 as the list was too strong to cut people out at that stage.

So, how did we make the final decision? Well each script on the shortlist was rigorously debated, we agreed to disagree - what was resonant, distinctive and funny for one was not so for another, but round that table was real admiration for the writers. Cheryl thought the standard incredibly high, lines were quoted, images debated and John Dorneys boldness of vision to sumit a comedy script without any dialogue discussed.

I think on behalf of all the judges I want to say to all the writers out there thank you . I know how hard it is. Blood has been sweated to make the comedy work and I do not underestimate what has gone into each script. In the end this was a competition for a development opportunity and we only had room for 8 well in the end we made it 9 as we were so torn. And to those that didn't make it you are not forgotten especially those who made it so far. You are in our heads - and that is a very good place to be.

Cheryl Taylor, Controller, BBC Comedy Commissioning

I was astounded by the number of entries for the Laughing Stock Comedy initiative and very impressed indeed by the quality of the finalists. It's reassuring to know that there are so many imaginiative and funny writers at large and we fully expect to be hearing a lot more from them.