Second series of as-yet unbroadcast sitcom Pramface commissioned
BBC Three boss Zai Bennett has announced a second series of new sitcom Pramface, before the first has even been shown on the channel.
The single-camera format focuses on a young couple who discover they are due to have a baby at the time they should still be concentrating on their education.
In the show, 16-year-old Jamie and 18-year-old Laura meet at a sixth form party following the completion of their exams and, following a somewhat drunken encounter, are left facing responsibility when Laura discovers she is pregnant.
With Laura due to head off to university in Edinburgh, the show observes as the pair try - and frequently fail - to make the trip from childhood to parenthood.
Jamie is played by Sean Verey, who has previously appeared in BBC Switch's supermarket sitcom Shelfstackers, whilst Laura is played by Scarlett Alice Johnson perhaps best known as Vicki Fowler in EastEnders in 2003 and 2004.
The adults in the sitcom are played by established comic actors, including Angus Deayton (One Foot In The Grave, Nighty Night) and Anna Chancellor (Suburban Shootout, Spooks) as Laura's parents; and Ben Crompton (Ideal, Man Stroke Woman) and Bronagh Gallagher (The Peter Serafinowicz Show) as Jamie's parents.
The first series of Pramface was filmed on location in and around Edinburgh between May and July 2011, and is due to be begin on BBC Three in January 2012. Series 2 is likely to follow in early 2013.
The show has been written by Chris Reddy, who has been a regular writer on That Mitchell And Webb Look and the recently-axed childrens' sketch show Sorry, I've Got No Head. He also created the CBBC show's sitcom spin-off, Pixelface.
Zai Bennett said the investment gives "new talent and writers the time to grow and develop". He also added that confident commissions for shows "also ensures there is a clear nursery slope for them on to the channel, where we back series like Pramface with two series orders up front."
Pramface is a co-production between the BBC and Little Comet. Previous comedies to have been recommissioned before their debut include Steven Moffat's 1997 sitcom Chalk. Similarly, Mrs. Brown's Boys, the hit BBC One comedy about a Dublin family, was recently commissioned for a third series before the second has been broadcast.