Naman Ramachandran The BBC is investing an additional £10 million ($12.3 million) in developing comedy.Speaking at the BBC Comedy Festival in Newcastle, U.K., on Wednesday, BBC director of comedy Jon Petrie also revealed that the broadcaster will double the number of half-hour pilots made.
BBC Comedy and BBC Sounds will co-commission up to four audio comedy pilots. BBC Comedy Short Films will launch in June, consolidating current short form strands to create a space for both new and established talent to experiment and develop new work.
Existing writing grants are being expanded into the BBC Comedy Bursary Collective initiative, which will give emerging comedy directors and producers a place to hone their craft.
BBC also unveiled a revival, commissions and re-commissions. Jack Whitehall’s “Bad Education,” that ran for three seasons from 2012 through 2014, is being revived with a one-off 10th anniversary special, followed by a new six-part series written by a team of breakthrough writers.
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