Sky orders Rob Beckett & Josh Widdicombe panel show about television
- Sky has ordered a panel show about television, featuring Rob Beckett, Josh Widdicombe and Alison Hammond, to series
- On Demand is described as "a celebration of TV" that "sees comics, actors and personalities compete across a series of intriguing rounds to see who knows the most about telly"
- Beckett hosts the show, with Widdicombe and Hammond as team captains
Sky has ordered a series of Rob Beckett and Josh Widdicombe's panel show about television, British Comedy Guide can exclusively reveal.
Featuring Beckett as host and Widdicombe and Alison Hammond as team captains, the Sky Max series, which has variously been called On Demand and TV On Demand during its development, is described as "a celebration of TV" that "sees comics, actors and personalities compete across a series of intriguing rounds to see who knows the most about telly".
Produced by Talkback, which also makes the Never Mind The Buzzcocks revival for the same channel, On Demand's commission follows a successful pilot shot at London's Riverside Studios in January.
Speaking about the pilot at a Broadcasting Press Guild event in London in February, Zai Bennett, managing director of content for Sky, praised Hammond, calling the presenter "a brilliant addition to Sky. She has such an infectious personality.
"I went to the recording of the show and the audience just did not stop cheering for her throughout the whole thing. Josh Widdicombe looked quite put out. He's the other team's captain and he looked quite grumpy."
Speaking to BCG last year after the publication of his memoir, Watching Neighbours Twice A Day...: How '90s TV (Almost) Prepared Me For Life, Widdicombe revealed that he "would love to turn it into something on television".
Beckett has previously acted as a team captain on two series of ITV1's panel show about television, Paul Sinha's TV Showdown, hosted by the eponymous stand-up and featuring Cold Feet star Fay Ripley as the opposing captain.
Earlier this month, BCG revealed that Rob And Romesh Vs, featuring Beckett and Romesh Ranganathan, will be returning to Sky Max later this year for a sixth series. The news follows Beckett's stand-up special, Wallop, airing on the Sky Comedy channel in December.
Meanwhile, Widdicombe recently appeared with Nish Kumar on Sky Max's Hold The Front Page, in which the pair experienced what it's like to be a local journalist in newsrooms across the UK.