Through the BBC NI Writersroom, the Comedy Unit really appreciated getting the opportunity to work with these very talented comedy writers based in Northern Ireland.
BBC Writers has partnered with BBC Comedy Production and Commissioning since our creation in 2000. Just a few of our many Comedy writing opportunities have included All Mixed Up in 2010 (one of the winners, Sophie Petzal has gone on to great success as she explained on our blog), Laughing Stock in 2011 (see the final shortlist) and Laugh Track in 2012. For several years we partnered on schemes and writer development with the former BBC College of Comedy which launched in 2008 with support from many leading writers.
Two successful Comedy shows which originated through our unsolicited script submissions are Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps by Susan Nickson (who then went on to create Grown-Ups) and The Smoking Room by Brian Dooley (who won a BAFTA for the series in 2005).
Tony Burgess was our first writer-in-residence at Comedy North in 2004 which led to his BBC Three pilot The Visit. Kate Wincup was writer in residence at BBC Comedy North in 2007 and subsequently wrote on Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps and Grown Ups. Angie Clarke applied to our Women Comedy Writers' scheme and this led to Eyes Down, her original sitcom for BBC Two/Three in 2003/4. In 2005 we worked with the BBC's New Talent Sitcom Writers' Award which was won by Robin Taylor whose entry Marigold was filmed and broadcast on BBC Three, while another former winner of the BBC Talent New Sitcom Writers Award was Daniel Peak who went on to create I'm With Stupid in 2006.
Find out more about our more recent Comedy successes below.
BBC Comedy
From 2021, Comedy writer, writer/performer, director and producer development is looked after by BBC Comedy Commissioning, which brings together all comedy outreach that is happening across the BBC under one strategy.
The separate Caroline Aherne Bursary, Felix Dexter Bursary and Galton & Simpson Bursary for writers have been brought together with two new bursaries for directors and producers into the BBC Comedy Collective, a supercharged bursary scheme offering 10 places each year to up-and-coming writers, producers and directors who’d like to develop their careers in scripted comedy.
Find out more about the BBC Comedy Collective leaders and alumni
We will no longer open a window specifically for Comedy script submissions or run further Comedy Room writer development groups via BBC Writers.
Interested in breaking into Comedy?
Visit the BBC Comedy Commissioning website to find out about more opportunities
More successes in Comedy
Boy Meets Girl
Boy Meets Girl is the UK's first transgender sitcom and was commissioned for two full series on BBC Two which were broadcast in 2015 and 2016. Created and written by Elliott Kerrigan the comedy was discovered through BBC Writersroom's Trans Comedy Award.
The Caroline Aherne Bursary
Designed to find, develop and support great new comedy talent, the bursary was named in honour of the late award-winning comedy writer and performer Caroline Aherne. BBC Comedy Commissioning, in partnership with BBC Writersroom and BBC North, launched the bursary scheme in 2017, calling applicants to submit filmed content of comedy characters. From 2023 the Caroline Aherne Bursary is part of the BBC Comedy Collective run by BBC Comedy Commissioning.
Comedy Room
BBC Writersroom's Comedy Room was a 1-year development scheme for writers identified through our Open Call script submissions and other talent searches. It ran from 2015 to 2020.
Digital Shorts
Many of our Comedy successes have been achieved by writers in short form content for online and social media. Find out more.
