Revealed: The British Comedy Producers Hoping To Land The Next Breakout BBC Sitcom

EXCLUSIVE: The BBC is inching towards greenlighting its next big sitcom and we can reveal which producers are in the running.

The corporation’s comedy boss Jon Petrie said last May his team would fund writers’ rooms for original sitcom ideas, which we understand have been awarded to BBC Studios, Big Talk Studios, Various Artists Limited, Roughcut and Hat Trick.

Between them, these storied outfits have made some of the biggest British sitcoms of recent years including Derry Girls, Two Doors Down, Friday Night Dinner, Stath Lets Flats and Such Brave Girls, securing many a BAFTA along the way.

Projects are being kept under wraps but we are told writers’ rooms have opened and are beginning to staff up. The indies are tasked with coming up with a pilot script, episode outlines and a writing team ready to go. More than one idea could make it to screen. When he unveiled the plan in May 2024 during a speech at the BBC Comedy Festival in Glasgow, Petrie said the ideas would be “led by an experienced showrunner and backed by teams of established and new writing talent to create the next big UK sitcom.” At that point he cited the likes of Ghosts, Two Doors Down, Motherland and Here We Go as success stories.

Finding the next generation of sitcoms has taken up a hefty chunk of Petrie’s time since he took on the biggest job in British comedy more than three years ago and he has already greenlit new sitcoms like The Power of Parker and We Might Regret This.

During that Comedy Festival set piece, he urged producers to locate their “funny bones” when pitching shows and described himself as being “firmly sitcoms first.” He noted at the time that his team was “not getting pitched enough of the comedy we need to keep people happy” but was instead over-stocked with dramedies, which some producers deem an “easier sell” financially in a market beset by budget woes.

Those budget woes haven’t eased up as 2025 has arrived and finding additional funding for scripted shows is as hard as it’s ever been. Last week, storied drama producer Jane Featherstone revealed the BBC is struggling to fund a number of scripted shows on its slate.