The BBC says it wants more traditional studio-based sitcoms – even on BBC Two.

BBC comedy commissioning controller Lucy Lumsden said that of the 280 ideas for comedy shows she received last year, just 18 were written for a studio audience.

But she says she wants to run around four such shows each year on BBC Two, which has traditionally favoured other comedy formats.

Speaking at a Writers' Guild of Great Britain event, she said that there was a ‘great appetite’ for studio sitcoms, adding: ‘They're something we attach enormous importance to.’

The Lee Mack sitcom Not Going Out and After You've Gone, starring Nicholas Lyndhurst, have both proved recent, traditional, hits for BBC One.

Lumsden said she was looking for shows with ‘familiarity but also saying something new’.