Simon Farnaby creates new golf sitcom for Radio 2
Radio 2 is to pilot The Peterford Golf Club, a new sitcom written by and featuring Horrible Histories star Simon Farnaby.
The comedy will also feature Claire Keelan, Barunka O'Shaughnessy and Tom Meeten.
The station says: "The Peterford Golf Club does for golf clubs what Green Wing did for hospitals."
The comedy will focus on the power struggle at the top of a traditional golf club. Radio 2 explains: "Golf club regular Stuart thinks he has a chance of being appointed to the all-powerful Committee, if only he can get his rival Bob out of the way. Meanwhile players Chris and Jane are trying to rekindle their relationship, which has gone into the rough. They just need to find some peace and quiet on the green.
"Jill has always avoided the women's group, as her husband David chairs the committee and doesn't approve, but today she has agreed to play a round with them. Might she be persuaded to join them? And what, exactly, are they up to?"
Comedy website The Velvet Onion points out that the name Peterford Golf Club started out as a sketch in Simon Farnaby and Waen Shepherd's 2001's comedy night Animal Pie, before becoming the name of their two man stage sketch show the following year. Farnaby also starred in Golf War, a 2007 E4 pilot.
The pilot episode will be recorded on Wednesday 28th October 2015 at the BBC Radio Theatre. To apply to be in the audience see our free tickets page
This news marks Radio 2's return to scripted comedy commissioning. The station last commissioned Lucy Beaumont's To Hull And Back, which was recorded in June 2014. The Peterford Golf Club will be one of five pilots broadcast as a new season of Radio 2's Comedy Showcase from 16th November, under an initiative that will see each episode available online a week before broadcast, from 9th November.