New Dave sitcom pilots, first images
- The first images of four new sitcom pilots for the Dave channel have been revealed
- The Other Half, Dead Canny, Holier Than Thou and Perfect will air on successive nights in the week beginning August 22nd
- The half-hour pilots were commissioned as part of UKTV's WriterSlam competition
British Comedy Guide can today exclusively share the first images from Dave's four new sitcom pilots.
The Other Half, Dead Canny, Holier Than Thou and Perfect were commissioned as part of UKTV's WriterSlam competition, an initiative with TriForce Creative Network aiming to "shine a spotlight on diverse and emerging talent".
The quartet of half-hour pilots will broadcast on successive nights later this month.
The Other Half
Going out on August 23rd, The Other Half stars Vahid Gold (Newark, Newark) as closeted, mixed heritage 20-something Navid.
Written by Kate Reid and Zak Ghazi-Torbati and executive produced by Romesh Ranganathan and Michelle Farr-Scott, the comedy co-stars Paul Chahidi (This Country), Samantha Spiro (Grandma's House) and Justin Edwards (The Thick Of It) and follows "half-Welsh, half-Iranian and 100% that bitch" Navid as he gets the chance to escape his small Welsh town when he lands an internship in Bristol.
But as he runs headlong into his new life, shacking up with his best friend and her painfully privileged family, he's also running away from his old life, living with his overprotective father and hiding his sexuality. And the more he tries to keep the two halves of his life apart, the more they keep crashing into each other.
Dead Canny
Dead Canny airs the next night and stars newcomer Sarah Balfour as a so-called psychic caught up in a police investigation, alongside Benidorm's Denise Welch, Mark Benton (Early Doors, City Lights) and Fraser Ayres (The Smoking Room).
Written by Anna Costello, Balfour takes the lead role of Kay, a questionable young psychic from Consett, Co. Durham, whose ability to see dead people not only earns her a few quid cash-in-hand down the local pub, but also lands her as the prime suspect in a murder enquiry.
Holier Than Thou
Broadcast on Thursday 25th August, Holier Than Thou stars newcomers Princess Khumalo, Tomi Ogbaro and Jordan Williams as three young adults navigating sex, faith, and relationships, while attending the conservative, African evangelical church they were raised in.
Set in Manchester, the comedy is written by Mancunian writer-actor Misha Adesanya.
Perfect
Finally, airing on August 26th, Perfect stars Sex Education's George Robinson and is written by stand-up Laurence Clark.
Set in the comic's native Liverpool, it focuses on Robinson, Wills Whittington (Don't Forget The Driver) and newcomer Shreya M Patel as three young disabled people who become unexpected friends when they meet on a half-cocked and pointless work preparation scheme. Together they navigate life, dating and a system that seems designed to only benefit the people who run it.
It also features Motherland's Tanya Moodie, Newark, Newark creator Nathan Foad and fellow comedians Sukh Ojla and Jo Griffin, plus Juliet Cowan and Aarya Burr.
Speaking when the pilots were announced last year, UKTV commissioner Sarah Asante said: "I was delighted to join the UKTV scripted comedy team just as they had launched a search for emerging diverse writers. The added commitment from the Dave team by offering the initiative a transmission target set the bar really high for our search. We have proudly developed shows that organically span the nations and regions, showcasing the breadth of storytelling from across the UK.
"This initiative has demystified the script to screen process in a unique way and has nurtured enormous growth in confidence and vision from the writers, which has been a pleasure to witness. It's been heartening for us at UKTV to see what can happen when we invite new writers to share their dreams and talents with us and the wider industry. I also want to thank our impressive production partners for taking this leap and going on this journey with us."