big talk productions

Industry experts share the secrets to get comedy on TV

Tom Davis, James de Frond, Lara Singer and Andrew Brereton (Credit: Paul Hampartsoumian)

A packed RTS Futures event, “Pitching script to screen”, offered aspiring writers and producers tips on how they should hone and sell their ideas to commissioners.

Leading the panel of seasoned comedy and entertainment practitioners was Tom Davis, the star of the RTS and Bafta award-winning BBC Three sitcom Murder in Successville.

Ticket to timetravel: How Timewasters became a comedy hit

Samson Kayo (Horace), Kadiff Kirwan (Jason), Daniel Lawrence Taylor (Nick) and Adelayo Adedayo (Lauren) in Timewasters (Credit: ITV)

Timewasters has charmed critics and attracted healthy audiences with its mix of jazz, time travel and good jokes. Notably, it also has an all-black leading cast but, according to its creator, Daniel Lawrence Taylor, it is, “first and foremost”, a comedy.

Kenton Allen takes a look back at TV in 2017

January

I can barely remember what I had for breakfast, so thinking back to January 2017 is a little challenging. From memory, I think we were all discussing whether Jay Hunt was going to host The Great British Bake Off.

Certainly, we were all discussing those Jay Hunt rumours, which must have been about the vacant position of Bake Off chair.

In other news, we were all braced for the Great British Drama Boom and hoping that Left Bank Pictures wouldn’t get any more commissions from SVoD services that hadn’t yet been invented.

Mitchell and Webb reunite for new Channel 4 comedy

Back comes from Emmy-award winning writer Simon Blackwell, who worked with Mitchell and Webb on Channel 4’s popular comedy Peep Show.

When Stephen’s (Mitchell) father Laurie dies, it is finally Stephen’s time to take over the family business, a local pub. His mother and sister (Julie Deakin and Louise Brealey) are too busy aligning positive energies to take an interest in the family business.

First look at ITV Encore's Houdini & Doyle

Michael Weston as Harry Houdini and Stephen Mangan Arthur Conan Doyle star in Houdini and Doyle


Michael Weston as Harry Houdini and Stephen Mangan
​ as Arthur Conan Doyle
(Credit: ITV / Big Talk)

Stephen Mangan will star as Sherlock Holmes author Arthur Conan Doyle in the ten part drama, alongside Michael Weston, who will play escape artist Harry Houdini.

Cold Feet to return to ITV

The cast of Cold Feet (Credit: ITV)

Twelve years since it ended - and after months of speculation - Cold Feet will be coming back for a new series.

The comedy-drama was a cult and critically-acclaimed hit during its original five-series run (from 1997-2003), and ITV has confirmed that the new 8-part revival will reunite stars James Nesbitt, Robert Bathurst, Hermione Norris, John Thomson, and Fay Ripley.

The series's creator and writer Mike Bullen, said it was "the right time to revisit these characters, as they tip-toe through the minefield of middle age.