Sunny D

Video: Dane Baptiste Writersroom interview

Dane Baptiste explains how his comedy show Sunny D made it to BBC Three.

Liz Hume-Dawson enjoying life in TV comedy Sunny D

It has been busy year for a Bolton mum, who is topping off 2017 with a starring role in a hit new BBC show.

When BBC Three moved online there was a suggestion that all of the comedies that moved with the channel would appeal to a younger audience. Therefore I'm baffled to why new sitcom Sunny D debuted on the channel's online platform as it started with a Cosby Show-style opening that nobody under the age of thirty would be able to identify. Sunny D has been created by stand-up comedian Dane Baptiste who plays a fictionalised version of himself; a dissatisfied late twenty-something who still lives with his parents. Early on Dane hankers for a return to his childhood of the nineties where you could tape songs from the radio and be comforted by the goings-on on Dawson's Creek. I honestly feel that all of the nineties references would be lost on the younger demographic that BBC Three is supposedly trying to reach and I feel this one of the sitcoms main issues. In fact I do feel that Sunny D did skew very much to an audience of thirtysomethings who would recognise the references to Puff Daddy videos, Bill and Ted and Carlton Banks. In fact I think somebody at BBC Three watched this opener and told Baptiste that he needed to make Sunny D feel more contemporary hence a Kardashian gag being shoehorned into the last few minutes of the episode. But there are bigger issues with Sunny D starting with the fact that it's another sitcom in which the lead character addresses the audience directly. I always find this is a cop-out as it is much easier for Baptiste to introduce the characters by having Dane explain all of their flaws ahead of their introduction. However the biggest sin that Sunny D commits is that it's not very funny and this first episode, based around Dane's father's surprise birthday feels very old-fashioned in a lot of regards. From Dane being constantly being bothered by his extended family members to him getting drunk and accidentally proposing to his girlfriend there was nothing in Sunny D that I hadn't seen before. I also didn't find any of the characters particularly likeable and I found some of Dane's comments actively hurtful, especially through some of the insults he tossed in the direction of his twin sister. In fact the only positive I found here was the subtle performance from sitcom legend Don Warrington as Dane's softly-spoken father. Other than that this was another BBC Three sitcom that in my opinion had very little merit but then supposedly, despite all of its nineties references, Sunny D isn't a sitcom that should appeal to me anyway.

Sunny D: Dane Baptiste's sitcom is dizzyingly hilarious

In his BBC Three series, the British comedian stars as Dane, a disenchanted thirtysomething still living with his parents. It's so zippy, you can barely keep up with it.

Sunny D review

These four episodes show a lot of promise. It's been launched as part of the BBC's 'Black and British' season, but the 'black' tag seems like marginalisation, on top of the online-only release, as with a bit of finesse Sunny D has potential to be a series worthy of primetime.

I talk to: Dane Baptiste

Starting off as a 15-minute pilot last year as part of BBC Three's Comedy Feeds season, Dane Baptiste returns to our screens with a four-part series of Sunny D.

Comic Dane Baptiste writes and stars in this new offering from the online channel, which kicks off tomorrow. In it, he plays a late-twentysomething office worker - also called Dane - who lives at home with his fed-up parents and is in constant competition with his twin sister. But when fictive Dane makes a rum-fuelled announcement at a family party, he might finally have to take some responsibility for his future. Part of the BBC's Black And British season, this is a new sitcom with plenty of 90s and 00s R&B on the soundtrack and a strong cast: alongside Baptiste, Akemnji Ndifornyen steals the show in episode one as arrogant Christian.

TV preview: Sunny D, BBC Three

Dane Baptiste is a sharp, fast rising comedian and it is great to see that the BBC has given him a sitcom so early in his career. Sunny D came out of a Comedy Feed one-off and only consists of four episodes released online via iPlayer but it is still a positive step. And, more importantly, Sunny is funny.