Andrew Dipper

Salford Sitcom Showcase 2014: a look at the four shows on trial

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Four comedy pilots currently in development for BBC Comedy will be shown to a live studio audience over three nights at the Salford Sitcom Showcase, part of the BBC’s Salford Comedy Festival.

Supported by BBC Comedy Commissioning in collaboration with BBC North, this is the third year the Sitcom Showcase has given audiences the chance to see new comedies in development, with both Citizen Khan and Hebburn picked up for BBC One and BBC Two respectively after the first showcase.

“The North is synonymous with great British comedy and the BBC has always found a home for the best of them,” says Shane Allen, Controller of Comedy Commissioning.

“The Salford Sitcom Showcase captures this on-going commitment to delivering the next best in comedy writing and performing. There’s nothing like the instant feedback of a live audience to tell you what does and doesn’t work in a new comedy.”

Four new comedies are being piloted at MediaCityUK next week: The Neighbourhood, written by James Hendrie and Ian Brown (Monday 17 March); Welcome Home (Tuesday 18 March); Tools (Wednesday 19 March); and Boy Meets Girl (pre-record to be shown 17-19 March).

The Neighbourhood

In The Neighbourhood, only one man stands between the residents of Belmont Road and lawlessness, disorder and their sanity.

Ex-policeman Ed Halliwell (Simon Day) is a man with time on his hands. He’s been on indefinite sick leave since being injured in the line of duty (he pulled a muscle lifting a tray of pasties at a cycling proficiency event).

A man in search of a role, he spends more time meddling with his neighbours’ lives than he devotes to his wife and kids.

Despite the chaos he unleashes, Ed manages to bring together three disparate households, who have nothing in common but their postcode, in unity – against Ed Halliwell.

Welcome Home

Written by Justin Moorhouse, Jim Poyser and Damon Rochefort, Welcome Home is a big, warm-hearted sitcom about what happens when you get divorced but can’t afford to move out.

Add in an interfering gran, an attractive neighbour and a distracting sidekick and life becomes very complicated.

The cast includes Justin Moorhouse, Maureen Lipman, Lloyd Langford, Jodie Prenger, Amara Karan and Daniel Ings and is executive produced by Rebecca Papworth.

Tools

Toolsstarring Tony Law amongst others – is a warm, quirky, single-camera ensemble sitcom set in a Homezone DIY superstore (junction nine, off the M6, next to the big Asda).

We join mid-life-crisis manager Greg and his enthusiastic, well-meaning but often frustrating team as they try to shepherd the customers through a bank holiday weekend, and some of the most important decisions of their adult lives – whether to paint the walls ivory, champagne or off white.

The full cast is Mark Benton, Elizabeth Berrington, Jessie Cave, Jody Latham, Asim Chaudhry, Tony Law, Fergus Craig, Daisy Beaumont, Alan Williams and James Lance.

Boy Meets Girl

Boy Meets Girl tells the story of Leo, who’s just lost his job (again), is being given a hard time by his mum and, to cap it all, his blind date fails to show up.

But then he bumps into Judy and finds himself deeply attracted to this surprising and beguiling woman.

They bond over drinks and, unfazed by the fact that there’s a bit of an age gap between them, arrange to meet the following evening.

Leo’s mother is unhappy that he’s having dinner with an older woman, but Leo doesn’t care what she thinks; he knows that he’s just met someone very special.

Writer Elliott Kerrigan was one of the winners of the Trans Comedy Award, a BBC Writersroom talent search run in partnership with Trans Comedy to encourage writers to promote a positive portrayal of Transgender people in mainstream comedy.

Tickets to see sitcom recordings for the 2014 Salford Sitcom Showcase are free but must be booked via the BBC Writersroom. Click for more information and tickets.