Paramount Comedy moves into new programming

The commission is hoped to be the first of many new shows in the pipeline for the digital channel, which is trying to find some home-grown hits to reduce its reliance on imported American hits such as Everybody Loves Raymond and Frasier.

In the half-hour pilot, Jeffries plays a foul-mouthed software millionaire, not too far removed from his stand-up persona.

Trade magazine Broadcast describes his sitcom character as: ‘Searching for meaning in his life, he only ever ends up having meaningless sex with attractive women and shows little consideration for his friends who still have to earn money.’

The as-yet unnamed comedy, being made by TwoFour, has been written by the Dawson brothers – Andrew and Steve Dawson plus Tim Inman – who were on the team behind BBC Three’s The Wrong Door.

Paramount Comedy general manager Jill Offman yesterday confirmed her channel was actively looking to commission new full-length programmes, for the first time in years.

‘We will give them our best slots,’ she said. ‘We don’t care if it’s a panel show, a sitcom or something hat hasn’t been explored before.’

However, she wouldn’t be drawn on exactly how many projects could be developed for broadcast.

In its commissioning heyday, Paramount helped launch the careers of Sacha Baron Cohen, Simon Pegg, Matt Lucas and David Walliams and Leigh Francis, among others.

Published: 19 Sep 2008