Jack Carroll starring in short Mobility
- Jack Carroll has co-written and will star in a new comedy short
- For BBC Three, Mobility follows three Huddersfield teenagers with nothing in common except disability
- The trio are thrown together when they share a special disabled-access mobility bus to school each day
The BBC is making Mobility, a comedy short for BBC Three that follows three Huddersfield teenagers "with nothing in common except that they all have to catch the mobility bus to school".
Actor and stand-up comedian Jack Carroll will take on the role of Mike, with casting for the other two characters yet to be revealed. Carroll has co-written the short with Tom Gregory.
Producers tease: "It's the first day of 6th Form, and Mike (Jack Carroll) is looking forward to a bit of social mobility. He's way better than the group of loser friends he's somehow accrued, and aspires to higher things.
"But for now Mike is stuck with Sunny, an upbeat and unapologetic geek, and Dan, a lad so acerbic he only communicates in put-downs. Mike thinks he can do better, but he's going to find it hard to shake them off: Mike, Sunny and Dan all use the mobility bus. Mike has cerebral palsy, Sunny uses a wheelchair, and Dan Syndrome has Down's Syndrome. So Mike, Sunny and Dan are trapped together, at least for the ride to school."
Jack Carroll says: "It has been a near lifelong ambition of mine to write and perform in a narrative comedy for the BBC. I'm delighted that this has taken the form of Mobility, a funny and irreverent look at the lives of teenagers with disabilities, and their daily mobility bus trip to college. Deep thanks to my token able-bodied colleagues ('coz you've gotta have a couple on every production these days) - our brilliant producer Sam Ward and my excellent co-writer Tom Gregory for all the laughs and insight they've brought to the show, although as I keep telling them I can't 'just sort them out with a blue badge'."
Sam Ward, who is executive producing for Test Mouse Productions, comments: "During Lockdown, Jack and Tom's Twitter stalking became so relentless that eventually I had no choice but to develop and produce their wonderful script with them, and I'm thrilled that my subsequent stalking of David Simpson lead to a co-production with Tiger Aspect. Mobility brings a unique comic perspective to the universal experience of mucking about at the back of the school bus."
David Simpson, who is executive producing for Tiger Aspect, comments: "Jack Carroll is an outstanding comic performer and the script he has written with Tom Gregory is laugh out loud funny with joyful comic characters. Audiences are going to love Mobility."
Filming will be overseen by Nova Jones and Almost Never director Akaash Meeda.
The news was announced by Jon Petrie, the BBC's Director of Comedy, in a speech at the BBC Comedy Festival in which he revealed the corporation is set to invest extra £10 million into comedy over the next two years. A number of other commissions were announced today, including a new series of Bad Education and a Detectorists special. Full story