BBC plans first black sitcom
BBC1 is to screen its first black sitcom The Crouches later this year, it was announced today.
The programme, billed as an “upbeat, contemporary comedy” looks at the lives of a family living in Walworth, south east London.
The BBC said the programme was commissioned primarily because it was funny, not for any politically correct reasons.
Other channels have screened comedies about the lives of the afro-Caribbean community such as Desmonds and No Problem, but it is the first time the BBC’s flagship channel has done so. However there have been black leading actors such as Lenny Henry’s popular series Chef.
The Crouches stars Robbie Gee, who also appeared in Desmonds, as Roly Crouch who has been married to his childhood sweetheart Natalie (played by Jo Martin) for 18 years.
They also have their two demanding teenagers, Aiden and Adele, and parents Langley (Rudolph Walker) and Sylvie (Mona Hammond from EastEnders) living with them and the pressures of family life can sometimes reach boiling point.
Don Warrington, famed for his role in classic comedy Rising Damp and more recently BBC2’s Manchild, also features in the cast as Roly’s workmate Bailey.
A BBC spokeswoman said: “It has been commissioned because it is funny and it is very much a part of BBC1 – not simply because it is about a family who are black.”
BBC1 controller Lorraine Heggessey added: “This vibrant comedy will showcase the talents of some of Britain’s best black actors and introduce new faces to a mainstream audience.”
The Crouches is one of a number of new comedy shows which were unveiled at the Montreux Television Festival this weekend.
They include the transfer of Radio 4’s surreal hit The Boosh to TV. BBC chiefs are in negotiations with producers to take the show – a bizarre adventure in which two keepers at a dilapidated zoo find themselves on a hunt in the arctic tundra – to digital channel BBC3.
Creators of The Boosh won them the Best Newcomer Perrier Award at the Edinburgh Festival in 1998.
And Jo Brand, who gamely took part in the Comic Relief version of Fame Academy and a special edition of What Not To Wear recently, lands her own comic quiz show.
In BBC2’s Nobody Likes A Smart Ass a 50-strong studio audience tries to catch out a team of know-all experts with Brand on hand to provide biting put-downs.
Jane Lush, BBC controller of entertainment commissioning said: “Comedy is no laughing matter – but we work hard to find the most exciting comedians, performers and writers and then use the BBC’s portfolio of channels to nurture them.”
