Autumn line-up revealed

BBC Three has unveiled its autumn schedules, including pilots from Chris Addison, Mark Watson and Ben Willbond.

Watson, nominated for the Perrier best newcomer at last year’s Edinburgh Fringe, has written a pilot called And Martin… about an underachieving would-be novelist who moves in with his high-flying brother.

But things start to change when a publisher expresses interest in his book.

Watson, already a published an author, happens to be writing another novel in instalments at this year’s Edinburgh festival, with the aid of his audiences.

In another of the BBC Three pilots, to be broadcast under the banner Behind Closed Doors, Ben Willbond and fellow Fringe favourite Susan Earl star in ensemble comedy Bash, right, about a group of late twentysomething friends, facing up to responsibility.

The third pilot, previously revealed on Chortle, is called Lab Rats, stars Chris Addison, is produced by Armando Iannucci and is set in the world of science

Meanwhile, one of the channel’s earlier pilots I'm With Stupid, about a homless man’s friendship with a disabled man, has been commissioned for a full series.

Set in sheltered accommodation ‘rife with gambling, scheming and unrequited love’, it stars Early Doors’ Mark Benton and Holby City’s Paul Henshall.

Jocelyn Jee Esien, one third of the cast of hidden camera show 3 Non-Blondes, also lands her own series, which she wrote and stars in.

Little Miss Jocelyn is described as ‘wickedly naughty and anarchic’ and mixes sketches, hidden-camera stunts and 'hapless celebrities', and features such characters as the first black female US president; an upfront toilet attendant and a Nigerian wife who collects husbands.

Have I Got News For You producer Harry Thompson’s last show before his death in November from cancer at the age of 45 is also in the season’s schedules.

Pulling, whih he co-created with its stars Sharon Horgan and Dennis Kelly, is about an ordinary woman who dumps her dull fiancé just days before their wedding, moves into a shared house and prepares for a more exciting life.

Another comedy, with the working title Dogtown, is about the bizarre goings on in the fictional coastal town of in Horton-Le-Hole, where housewives secretly role-play as Olympic champions, a pyromaniac psychic dwarf reads palms at a bus stop, and romance books are being defaced in the library

The show, left, was written by twin sisters Emma and Beth Kilcoyne and stars Emma Kilcoyne and Sam Battersea, a group who previously performed at the Edinburgh Fringe under the name Live! Girls!

Finally, Tittybangbang returns for a second series

Published: 24 Jul 2006