Steve Oram

Steve Oram to direct monkey comedy Aaaaaaaah!

Sightseers star and co-writer Steve Oram is to make his directorial debut on comedy Aaaaaaaah!, a film full of "sex and indiscriminate violence" in which actors will play monkeys and talk mostly "gibberish".

On paper this is a bit odd. Using the format of kids' favourite Jackanory to tell grown-up stories feels like a futile exercise. In reality it scores more hits than misses. This is partly down to the choice of storytellers: Jack Dee is the perfect voice of Nico Tatarowicz's modern-morality tale about the perils of social media, featuring Sightseers star Steve Oram as a Twitter-obsessive; while Sally Phillips's twee delivery adds an edge to Toby Davies's macabre story of a toymaker made into an automaton after his death. Both writers have worked on big comedy sketch shows (That Mitchell and Webb Look, Armstrong and Miller) so each story is darkly funny and neatly crafted. Get sitting comfortably.

Writers' Guild Awards 2013 shortlists

Nominations for Jo Brand, Vicki Pepperdine, Joanna Scanlan, Jesse Armstrong, Sam Bain, Stefan Golaszewski, Susan Calman, Sanjeev Kohli, Donald McLeary, David Sedaris, Alice Lowe and Steve Oram.

Steve Oram interview

Interview with Steve Oram, the co-writer and co-star of Sightseers.

Steve Oran to star in Heading Out

Steve Oram is set to star in Heading Out, written by and starring Sue Perkins.

Sightseers: Film review

This should make stars of Steve Oram and Alice Lowe - previously best known for her work on Garth Marenghi's Darkplace - but for a debut, it's their writing that's intriguing. Even though it's slightly flawed, it has to a contender for the best British comedy film of the year.

Video: World exclusive trailer for Sightseers

Watch the trailer for the new film from Ben Wheatley, director of Down Terrace and Kill List, who returns with another black comedy. Chris (Steve Oram) is treating his girlfriend, Tina (Alice Lowe) to a caravan tour of the British countryside. It's their dream short break, until other holiday-makers start to jangle Chris's nerves...