Alan Carr

ITV to stream Edinburgh Fringe showcases as part of new ‘Summer Night of Comedy’ slate

Alan Carr and Young Alan (Oliver Savell) look into the camera, smiling, in front of a graphic of a football field, complete with arrows and annotations

ITVX Presents: Edinburgh Fringe Live will see the ITV platform stream four showcase gigs live from the Festival. Each showcase will feature material from 2024’s best and most exciting comedians, produced by NextUp Comedy, known to comedy fans as a leader in British stand-up streaming.

Changing Ends will return for a second series to follow a young Alan Carr (Oliver Savell) doing his best to survive 1980s Northampton. The sitcom draws from the comedian’s upbringing as the son of a fourth division football manager.

ITV commissions second series of Alan Carr sitcom Changing Ends

Alan Carr stands to the right of a goal post, with his younger self to the left. Someone is sitting on the post, but the only part of them in the photo is their right foot, hanging above the older Alan

The first series became ITVX’s most-viewed comedy earlier this year, and will be broadcast on ITV1 in 2024. Based on Carr’s experience growing up in 1980s Northampton, the show follows the comedian as a child with his family, including dad Graham, a fourth division football manager. Alan has to navigate puberty and coming to terms with his sexuality in the unforgiving landscape of Thatcher-era Britain.

Alan Carr announced as host for new Saturday night BBC quiz show Picture Slam

Alan Carr smiles at camera

The quiz will see Carr show teams of two a board of images. Every picture shown is worth a cash bonus, which they can claim by identifying the object in the photo. If they can correctly identify every image on the board they will earn themselves a “picture slam” and a bigger bonus.

However, in order for the team to take the money home they must pass through four rounds of photos and reach the final, beating the other two teams in the process.

Amanda Holden and Alan Carr team up for The Italian Job

Credit: BBC

Best friends Amanda Holden and Alan Carr are coming together to renovate an old and crumbling property in Italy to see if they can make a masterpiece. 

The eight-part series will see the duo join the ‘One Euro’ home buyers who are travelling to the sunny climes of Sicily to own a slice of heaven at a discounted price. 

The pair both love travel and interior design and will spend the summer settling into the Sicilian way of life, renovating a dilapidated house into a luxury holiday home. 

Channel 4 commissions Alan Carr’s Adventures With Agatha Christie

Credit: Channel 4

As a long-time fan of Christie, Carr is off to discover the places that inspired one of the best-selling novelists of all time.

His journey will celebrate Christie’s novels that are uniquely British in a way that is hard to find in modern Britain today. 

Full of adventures, glamour, twists and turns, Carr escaped into Christie’s novels while growing up in Northampton in the 1980s. 

The Misinvestigations of Romesh Ranganathan among the BBC’s new factual entertainment slate

Head of Commissioning, Popular Factual and Entertainment, Catherine Catton, commented: "The new commissions I’m announcing today demonstrate the strength of the department, with three new series that celebrate and engage with contemporary British life in a timely and relevant way.

"Factual entertainment at the BBC is all about bringing viewers joy and pleasure, and I hope that these new shows continue to do just that.”