Comedy stars
Beeb plans new sci-fi sitcom
The BBC is hoping to replicate the success of Red Dwarf with a new sci-fi sitcom.
The new BBC2 show, provisionally titled Full Power, will see a dysfunctional crew cooped up in a spaceship as they travel to distant planets to promote Britain in 2182.
Head of comedy entertainment Jon Plowman described the show as "an hilarious version of Das Boot in space" and said it was more about "the British in space" than being a sci-fi parody.
He told The Guardian: “The jokes are more important than the sci-fi. Hopefully the stories are going to be funny, but funny because of the funny characters and situations.
"If you can imagine an extreme mix of a British embassy and the British Council trying to persuade aliens to relocate to Peterborough. It's partly about that, and partly about the boredom of a group of people stuck together in a confined space for a long time."
The programme is currently being touted to foreign broadcasters with a promotional blurb that reads: "HMS Camden [is] helmed by the irrepressible, if a little tetchy, commander Henderson. Ably assisted by a committed but slightly accident prone crew that includes a sociopath, a sycophant and a sarcastic hacker, the commander steers his ship through the stars, giving orders from his big swivelly chair.”
Six half-hour episodes, written by Kevin Cecil and Andy Riley, are due to go into production in Manchester in the autumn. The duo have previously collaborated with Dylan Moran on Black Books and contributed sketches to Smack The Pony and Big Train, among others.
Published: 18 Apr 2005
