E4 commissions all-woman sketch show

E4 has commissioned an all-woman sketch show called Beehive, with filming due to start on the project this summer.

The show, to consist of five episodes, will star stand-up comedian Sarah Kendall, Alice Lowe (Garth Margenhi's Darkplace), Barunka O'Shaughnessy (Respectable) and Clare Thompson from the sketch group 'Piggy Nero'.

Siobhan Rhodes, who is producing the Tiger Aspect show says: "Beehive is about women being funny. There isn't enough of that on TV right now. Only Barunka and Alice had met before I introduced Sarah and Clare. It was great to see chemistry immediately and to know that Beehive will be the first result of the introduction of these four unique but complementary talents."

The commissioning editor for Channel 4 comedy, Shane Allen adds: "Beehive has a distinct comic heart to it. It's a lovely mix of very silly performances but conceptually it's very cleverly written."

It will not be Channel 4's first experience with all-women sketch shows, having had past success with Smack the Pony. As reported previously, both Lowe and O'Shaughnessy also have pilots based around their talents due to air later this year. Lowe is set to star in BBC Three sketch show Life Spam, whilst O'Shaughnessy can be seen next month starring in C4 Comedy Lab pilot Mr & Mrs Fandango.