Stella Street to return as web series

Phil Cornwell and John Sessions are working on new ideas for scripts, which featured Hollywood stars living in a London suburb. The finished episodes are expected to appear on the website log.tv in the new year.

The site, which is in its beta testing phase, already hosts material from the original BBC Two series, as well as contributions from the likes of Alexander Armstrong and Steve Punt.

Stella Street originally ran as ten-minute installments, before bowing out with a feature-length episode in 2004, so is well suited for the short form of internet comedy.

Director Peter Richardson said he decided to revive the idea after recording some ‘making of’ clips for the website.

‘We had breakfast at John Sessions' apartment and spent an hour and half talking to camera about the Stella Street history to date,’ he told MediaGuardian.

"That meeting inspired us to start thinking of some new ideas, perhaps Ronni Ancona and Alistair McGowan could be involved to make new episodes fresh and funny. We are working on it now.

‘With log.tv we don't have to worry about the constraints of the terrestrial broadcaster. The whole packaging process with TV can take years. Now, we can make quick decisions for ourselves and make it.

‘We can use young undiscovered attractive talent which brings an energy to the project I could never get from TV productions.’

Log.tv went live two months ago and aims to be funded by advertising in the increasingly crowded market for web-based comedy. The site says it has a technological advantage over its rivals in the quality of the clips.

Published: 6 Dec 2007