Comedy
BBC orders second series of RTS Award-winning comedy Dreaming Whilst Black
Salmon (Chivalry) stars in the series as Kwabena, a recruiter with big dreams of being a filmmaker. Loosely inspired by Salmon’s life, Kwabena embarks on a series of opportunities trying to get his start in film, whilst also paying rent, dealing with love, and battling his own daydreams.
Mathew Baynton on life after Ghosts
What have we done?” bemoans the decapitated head of Sir Humphrey Bone, after the nation’s favourite spectres make a defining decision in the final episode of Ghosts, which goes out as a Christmas special on BBC One. “We did the right thing,” Julian Fawcett, the trouserless MP ghost, says confidently.
RTS Student Masterclasses 2023: top takeaways
The first Masterclass saw @SkyNews Correspondent @inzyrashid discuss his work covering national and international affairs, from the 2017 Manchester Arena attack to the 2022 earthquake in Afghanistan, with Media Consultant @helengscott.
Channel 4 commissions new comedy created by and starring Rosie Jones
Jones stars as Emily, a young woman who has lost her state benefits after being made redundant. She is highly educated, hilarious and quick witted, but she also has very little left to lose, and so building an illegal drugs empire seems like the natural next step.
Emily’s cerebral palsy works in her favour; all her life people have been overlooking her and pretending she’s not there, and now this means her new business flies completely under the radar. Her disability becomes the perfect disguise.
Channel 4 commissions new comedy thriller from writer of Derry Girls
Like Derry Girls, McGee’s new comedy focuses on a Northern Irish female friendship group, but this time one in their late thirties. Robyn, Saoirse and Dara have been friends since high school. Now, Robyn is a mother with three young boys and a penchant for swearing, Saoirse is a successful writer who can’t help but self-destruct, and Dara still lives in her childhood bedroom whilst caring for her elderly parent full-time.
Casting announced for new Daniel Lawrence Taylor comedy Boarders
Boarders will follow five black teenagers from underprivileged backgrounds who receive scholarships to an elite boarding school, St Gilberts. Leaving their homes in inner-city London for the roller-coaster of boarding school, they go on personal journeys and find out how the other half live.
Two of the lead actors, Sekou Diaby and Aruna Jalloh, will be making their screen debuts alongside Josh Tedeku (A Town Called Malice), Jodie Campbell (Bulletproof), and Myles Kamwendo (The School for Good and Evil).
Working Lives: Comedy Writer Kaamil Shah
Did you always want to be a writer?
I wanted to be a director when, aged seven, I saw the behind-the-scenes Lord of the Rings documentaries. It was fascinating to see Peter Jackson running around and I thought, “That’s what I want to do.”
Life gets in the way and you’re pulled in other directions but, at Cambridge University, where I was studying history, there was a talk by the film screenwriter Jay Basu. I went away buzzing from that talk and, since then, everything I’ve done has been working towards being a screenwriter.
Rose Matafeo and Mike Wozniak confirmed as Junior Taskmaster and Assistant
Spring boarding off the success of Taskmaster with younger audiences, Junior Taskmaster will follow in the footsteps of the flagship comedy game show which sees Greg Davies (Man Down) and Alex Horne (The Horne Section) as Taskmaster and Assistant.
ITVX commissions new comedy G’wed celebrating the city of Liverpool
At the heart of G’wed is the superficially disobeying Reece, who, despite appearing as a loud mouthed anti-hero, has a surprising knowledge of John Steinbeck, can quote Mother Teresa, and has a very mature take on grief. Alongside him is Aimee, emotionally mature and fiercely determined, and Mia-Louise, a manipulator of men who don't deserve any better.