Imran Yusuf given BBC Three pilot
Comedian Imran Yusuf has been given an online linked to BBC Three which will feature stand-up, sketches, animation and green screen features.
The Imran Yusuf Show is being developed by Brown Eyed Boy, the production company behind Dan Clark's sitcom How Not To Live Your Life, which has recently been axed by the digital channel (but will return for one final Christmas special).
Gary Reich, the managing director of Brown Eyed Boy, told Broadcast magazine: "Since first working with Imran on our Laughter Shock pilot two years ago I have watched him blossom into one of the most dynamic, passionate and hardest working comics in the country today and it is thrilling to help facilitate his progressive vision."
Yusuf, known for his upbeat and energetic stage routines, shot to fame last summer at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival when he was nominated as Best Newcomer in the prestigious Edinburgh Comedy Awards. He has since appeared on BBC Three's Edinburgh Comedy Fest Live, and Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow.
Brown Eyed Boy is currently working on a number of other comedy pilots, including a single camera sitcom starring Olivia Lee as a fast living girl whose life is turned upside down by the arrival of a baby; a sitcom set in a Citizen's Advice Bureau, written by Scottish stand-up Susan Calman; and a studio-based sitcom for the forthcoming Sky Arts Comedy Playhouse season, which will be filmed in 3D.
Meanwhile, The Imran Yusuf Show is just one of a new batch of comedy projects commissioned recently by BBC Three. Amongst the other new pilots being made for the channel are Eggbox, a comedy drama set on a teenage cancer ward; and IED, a comedy about a bomb disposal unit.
Here is a video of Imran Yusuf performing on Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow.