BBC preps six new iPlayer comedy pilots

The BBC will launch six new online comedy pilots on the iPlayer as part of its fourth annual BBC Comedy Feeds initiative.

This year’s Comedy Feeds will include: a pilot co-written and starring Radio 1 presenter Greg James about a DJ who fails to get breakfast show slot, called Dead Air; a pilot set in a Scottish pupil referral unit for kids with behavioural and psychological problems, called Radges; and a comedy called SunnyD from stand-up comic Dane Baptiste.

The other three pilots are: a character comedy sketch show called People Time; a comedy about a girl who drops out of university and goes back to live with her family, called Fishbowl; and Phil Ellis’s Funz and Gamez, which won the Foster’s Edinburgh Comedy Panel Prize last year.

“Comedy Feeds are a crucial and dedicated way for the BBC to find and support the next wave of British comedy talent both on- and off-screen,” said BBC controller of comedy commissioning Shane Allen. He jointly commissioned the pilots with Victoria Jaye, head of content for BBC iPlayer, and Sam Bickley, when she was acting controller, BBC Three.

The Comedy Feeds are part of an on-going BBC Comedy, BBC Three and BBC Academy initiative to develop the next generation of comedy talent. Previous pilots, including People Just Do Nothing and Impractical Jokers, went on to secure full series commissions.