I directed and presented a showcase of three of the winning sitcom scripts on Monday at the BBC Comedy venue in Edinburgh. Excellent audience turnout, a brilliant cast of performers from the fringe brought in at short notice, and a showcase where people laughed all the way through.
The writers who were able to be there - David Byrne and Elliott Kerrigan (sadly Shazad Mohammed couldn't) - probably lost a proportion of their bodyweight through anxious perspiration but what they got in return was seeing their words stand up in front of an audience - who laughed right back at them.
We had very little rehearsal time and a broken down plane en route nearly scuppered us, but it was an excellent showcase of a great competition that has unearthed some gems which have in turn already started to engage an audience. Special thanks to our BBC producer Mollie who rallied an exceptional cast at short notice: Isy Suttie, Paul Chaal, Paul McCaffrey, Humphrey Ker, Shazia Mirza, Tom Rosenthal, Romesh Ranganathan, Spencer Jones, Nish Kumar, Anil Desai, Margaret Fraser and Jeff Mirza.
