Danny Cohen calls for BBC One sitcom pilots
Danny Cohen (pictured), who has been controller of BBC One for 9 months, has announced a drive for the station's next big sitcom hit.
The channel is looking for scripts for studio sitcom pilots to be submitted by 30th November. Four will be chosen for broadcast by the middle of 2012.
Cohen said that BBC One was currently being "undersupplied" with scripts suitable for the channel, and that comedy was an "interesting challenge". It is hoped that the new pilot run will uncover a new hit for the BBC's flagship station.
"Comedy in all its forms is incredibly important for BBC One but we don't get enough great sitcom scripts coming through - so I'm delighted to be announcing this initiative today. By committing to a group of transmittable pilots, we hope to help unearth a new generation of national comic gems."
Cheryl Taylor, the head of comedy commissioning, said: "We hope that this dedicated pilot initiative will galvanise writers to think about more inventive, likeable and enduring characters for our mainstream channel."
However, according to The Stage newspaper, Cohen also claimed that BBC One had "never" screened comedy pilots before - seemingly ignorant of the legacy of long-running pilot series such as Comedy Playhouse, which alone aired 120 episodes between 1961 and 1975, giving life to series such as Last Of The Summer Wine (which only ended in 2010), Are You Being Served? and Steptoe And Son.
Separately, Cohen said that BBC One's audience has an average age around 50, and that more programming should reflect this - it is not known how this will be reflected in the channel's comedy output.
Meanwhile, ITV's Director of Television Peter Fincham - a former head of BBC One and comedy producer himself - has admitted that ITV1 has "lost its nerve" with regard to comedy, and said he wishes "very much" to rectify the situation.
Speaking at the Edinburgh International Television Festival, Fincham appeared to blame the high risks involved in finding a comedy success, and admitted his admiration for BBC Two smash-hit Miranda, which will transfer shortly to BBC One. He also hinted that ITV could look to run a comedy season in order to "kick start" the network's return to the genre.