We've had a nerve-wracking couple of weeks here in waiting to see how two brand spanking new shows for would roll out.
When I arrived in the job last year, the Lee Nelson pilot was one of the first DVDs to land on my desk and I thought it was dynamite - a user-friendly version of the Edinburgh show I'd seen a couple of years before. I went to this hot and stuffy venue with Simon Wilson (Senior Executive Editor for Comedy Commissioning) and, despite the extreme heat, the show blew us away. We couldn't believe that Lee Nelson (a cheeky cockney character created by comedian ) wasn't nominated for a major award that year - his hour-long stand-up was meticulous in terms of spot-on character comedy with an unusually high gag count.
But comedy's a mercurial business and often even the most high-profile successes don't 'travel well' to TV. There have been a few sticky moments when very strong Edinburgh signings have resulted in disappointing pilots. Not so with this . Simon Brodkin and his production team worked tirelessly to keep the joke count high and to ensure that, in the TV studio, Lee's buoyant persona was just as fizzy as it had always been in stand-up venues. Very few people have the knack of working an audience like Simon can and when you get it right it's comedy gold. My colleague Davina was in the hairdresser last week and the girls in there were saying that their favourite shows on TV were and Lee Nelson - so after just two weeks word is spreading fast that he delivers "qualiteeeeeeeeee" comedy.
It's really not often that you get two great shows launching on the same channel in the same fortnight, but the puppet phenomenon launched on Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Three this week and we are all delighted that it's getting such .
The development process for this series has been lengthy and arduous, to say the least. Nearly three years ago when I was acting controller, Stephen McCrum, the producer, delivered a taster tape with a bunch of urban animal puppets begging for a series. It was very funny. We commissioned a pilot because we were intrigued to see how the characters might sustain over half an hour - would they connect with the viewer? In the case of Mongrels the quality of the puppets and their anthropomorphic personas was very seductive - , Controller of Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Three, was instantly smitten. The pilot demonstrated beyond any doubt that the puppet narrative was engaging and funny, although the rather cuddly storylines were deemed a tad too confusing for an audience who were not sure if this was meant to be a kids' programme or an adult one.
The two writers, Jon Brown and Danny Peak, adjusted the tone accordingly and the series scripts were far more colourful than the pilot - to the extent that during the scripting and post-production period we had lengthy discussions to gauge exactly where to draw the line in terms of the language and the tone, as the diverse range of characters had become considerably more belligerent and bawdy!
The audience certainly seem to have 'got it', though, if this first outing is anything to go by and it will be a fitting testimony to the extraordinary hard work of the production team if it becomes a hit.
It's notable that Lee Nelson's Well Good Show didn't change a huge amount between pilot and series, whereas Mongrels experienced a dramatic tonal makeover. Investing in pilots for new shows can slow down the process and is often expensive, but it can make the difference between a hit and a miss in comedy. We'd pilot all our new ideas if we could.
Cheryl Taylor is the Controller of Comedy Commissioning
- Read about Mongrels. Mongrels is on Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Three at 10pm on Tuesdays. To find out times of other showings coming up, please visit the .
- Read about Lee Nelson's Well Good Show, which is on Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Three at 10.30pm on Thursdays. For times of other showings, go to .