Shane Allen announces BBC One Comedy Playhouse season revival
Shane Allen, Controller of BBC Comedy Commissioning, has announced the commissioning of three brand-new half-hour one-off specials forming a Comedy Playhouse season for BBC One.
Published: 18 March 2014
BBC One delivers enormous audiences for comedy and this season revival reflects our commitment in mainstream to do new and daring projects.
The transmittable one-off specials follow in the footsteps of former BBC Comedy Playhouse favourites including Steptoe And Son, Till Death Us Do Part, Are You Being Served? and Last Of The Summer Wine, all of which were born out of the BBC’s Comedy Playhouse season before they became successful series.
Shane Allen, Controller, Comedy Commissioning, says: “BBC One delivers enormous audiences for comedy and this season revival reflects our commitment in mainstream to do new and daring projects. We want BBC One to fly the flag of popular British comedy and want this dedicated space to promote tomorrow’s classic comedy today.”
The three 1x30-minute shows are Miller's Mountain (w/t), Over To Bill and Monks.
Miller's Mountain (w/t)
Miller’s Mountain (w/t) is a hugely energetic studio sitcom set around the antics of Jimmy and his ragtag family of Mountain Rescue volunteers.
When the naïve and enthusiastic Conor reports for his first day as a volunteer, Jimmy, the shambolic old rescue hand, takes it upon himself to teach him the ‘ways of the hills’.
Conor’s education begins in the pub, where he’s introduced to the small mountain community of Bernie, Bill, Jules and Lady C. Bernie is head of operations, happy to the point of delirium in her work. Bill spends every living hour looking after dogs and his social skills have suffered as a result. Lady C, a reckless thrill-seeker, owns the land on which they live, and Jules, a no-nonsense barmaid, runs the pub.
When the actual mountain rescuing begins, things go from bad, to worse, to even worse than that.
Mark Freeland, executive producer, says: “With memorable comedies such as Still Game and Rab C Nesbitt, there's a brilliant tradition of laugh out loud Scottish sitcoms. That's a high bar, but with its infectious joyousness, I so hope Miller’s Mountain (w/t) can scale those heights. Crampons on and let's see.”
Written by Donald McLeary and starring Jimmy Chisholm, Sharon Rooney, Kevin Guthrie, David Ireland, Kath Howden, Jonathan Watson and Sheila Reid. Produced by Owen Bell, directed by Matt Lipsey and executive produced by Mark Freeland, Ewan Angus, Steven Canny, Saurabh Kakkar, Miller’s Mountain is a BBC In-house Comedy production.
Over To Bill
Hugh Dennis, Neil Morrissey Tracy-Ann Oberman and Helen George star in Over To Bill, a brand-new sitcom pilot from the pen of Doug Naylor (Red Dwarf).
When BBC Weatherman Bill Onion (Hugh Dennis) is fired from the BBC. Bill finds getting back on TV much harder than expected. First port of call is best friend Jez (Neil Morrissey), who knows Nigel Harrington, a Channel 4 bigwig, but Jez is about to get married and his wife-to-be, Selina (Helen George) is systematically culling all of Jez’s idiotic friends. Supported by his wife, Faith (Tracy-Ann Oberman), it’s imperative for Bill not to offend Selina, in order to have schmooze time with Harrington.
Doug Naylor, Executive Producer says: “Richard and I are absolutely thrilled to be working with such a wonderful cast with all the great support we're getting from Baby Cow. We think the show is going to be something really special but then again we both thought Man Utd were going to win the league this year.”
Written and directed by Doug Naylor and produced by Richard Naylor, Over To Bill is from Baby Cow and Three Feet Productions.
Monks
James Fleet, Mark Heap, Justin Edwards, Fergus Craig and Seann Walsh star in Monks, a new audience sitcom for BBC One.
Gary Woodcroft (Seann Walsh) is in his late 20s and has never done a single useful thing in his life. He’s been the living definition of the word ‘chillax’, straddling a narrow line between unemployed and unemployable. Then, after years of dubious benefit claiming, he finds himself finally threatened with prosecution. Faced with the real prospect of prison, he decides to do what anyone would... run away and hide in his local monastery. Turns out escaping being banged up by becoming a monk wasn’t the easy option.
Meanwhile, Rudley Abbey is desperate. The number of monks in any given Abbey is strictly monitored, and last year Brother Christopher left to get married... to Brother Benjamin. Now they're below the required minimum of five, and if the Vatican finds out they’ll be closed down.
While the Abbey might have a leaky roof, no heating and a structurally unsound bell tower, none of the brothers can contemplate life anywhere else, so when Gary turns up on their doorstep it seems like a Godsend, at least at first...
Pete Thornton, executive producer, says: "Whilst Monks has been in development for about as long as the Catholic Church, I'm convinced it's now about as immaculate as any BBC sitcom pilot on earth, or indeed in heaven. The show is set in a world that the BBC One heartland audience will feel immediately at home with, and yet it's far from a traditional, old-fashioned audience show. We're delighted to be one of the trinity of fantastic shows being lined up for the new BBC Comedy Playhouse season."
Monks is written by Danny Robins, produced by Alex Walsh-Taylor and executive produced by Pete Thornton. It stars Seann Walsh, James Fleet, Mark Heap, Justin Edwards and Fergus Craig. Monks is a BBC In-house Comedy production.
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