Teenage Kicks to switch to BBC2?
Teenage Kicks, Adrian Edmondson's BBC Radio 2 sitcom, could be moving to television. A pilot episode is being filmed by BBC2 shortly in the hope that it will successfully transfer to the screen.
Adrian Edmondson and Ben Elton made their Radio 2 sitcom debuts earlier in the year with Teenage Kicks. Written by Edmondson and Nigel Smith the comedy tells the story of Vernon (Adrian Edmondson), an ageing punk rocker who moves into his teenage kids' student flat after a spectacularly nasty divorce. Vernon is genuinely excited about having the chance to be young again but his kids, Max and Milly, and their flatmate David, are mortified.
Ben Elton plays the part of Bryan, Vernon's best mate and a former member of his punk band, The Plague. These days, Bryan is the deputy head of a smart primary school and has a nice house, a nice car, a nice life and a good marriage – all of which, in Vernon's eyes, makes him a sad loser. Deep down, part of Bryan agrees.
Teenage Kicks was described by the production team as a middle-aged version of The Young Ones, the popular anarchic sitcom that was co-created by Ben Elton and starred Adrian Edmondson as student Vyvyan.
Editor's Note: Following this story in March it was revealed that ITV Director of Comedy Paul Jackson had snatched the series from the BBC and commissioned an eight episode run.