ITV announce 5 new comedies for ITVX
- ITV has ordered five new comedies for its new premium streaming service, ITVX
- Count Abdullah follows a British Muslim vampire and Ruby Speaking focuses on a call-centre worker
- Deep Fake Neighbour Wars is a tech-heavy spoof format; Significant Other a rom-com; and The Family Pile looks at grief
ITV has commissioned five new comedy series for its upcoming ITVX platform.
A premium streaming service that will replace the existing ITV Hub platform, ITVX will premiere many of the network's prestige series - dramas, documentaries and scripted comedies - up to nine months before they are broadcast on television.
The five new shows - Count Abdullah, Deep Fake Neighbour Wars, The Family Pile, Ruby Speaking and Significant Other - will air across ITV and ITV2, although specifics have not been confirmed.
Trade publication Broadcast reports that the shows are all half-hour formats, although the number of episodes in each series has not been announced. ITVX is expected to launch later this spring, with the comedies coming later in 2022.
Announced earlier in March, ITVX sees the network returning to large-scale comedy commissioning after almost two decades of very few titles in the genre. It previously announced comic thriller Passenger, and more comedy titles are expected to be revealed in coming months.
Count Abdullah
From Fudge Park (White Gold, The Festival), this sitcom is written by Kaamil Shah. It follows a British Pakistani Muslim junior doctor based in London who is bitten by a halal-hunting vampire.
Deep Fake Neighbour Wars
Spoofing New Zealand TV format Neighbours At War, this deep-fake comedy pitting celebrities as unruly residents has been created by prop comedian Spencer Jones and is produced by Tiger Aspect.
The Family Pile
Hat Trick (Derry Girls, Kate & Koji) is producing this "comedic exploration of grief, which follows two sisters who have lost their parents and are packing up the family home to sell, as visitors with various motives come to visit". It is written by Brian Dooley, who previously penned the acclaimed but short-running BBC sitcom The Smoking Room.
Ruby Speaking
Written by Abigail Wilson with Jayde Adams, Ruby Speaking follows the "misadventures" of a worker in a call centre. The series comes from Yellow Door Productions.
Significant Other
A "neighbourly romance" made by Quay Street, Significant Other is based on an Israeli comedy of the same name, following lonely neighbours who embark on a hesitant relationship with each other after drastic life events bring them together.
All have been commissioned by ITV head of scripted comedy Nana Hughes. No casting details or further information have been revealed.