BBC recommissions sitcom

BBC Three has ordered a second series of its office-based sitcom Lunch Monkeys, despite a disappointing first season.

The corporation has put faith in the comedy – which stars Nigel Havers – despite a critical drubbing and disappointing ratings.

The first series averaged 325,000 viewers at 10.30pm on Thursdays, more than 20 per cent below the average for that timeslot, and lost more than 100,000 viewers over its six-week run.

Meanwhile, rhe Times called it ‘a dull sitcom in which Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps entered into an unhappy marriage with a sub-standard retread of The Office’, The Independent said: it was 'a squalid office sitcom that occasionally makes you think of marching on Television Centre and setting fire to the BBC Three offices' and The Scotsman said it was full of laboured gags and lazy stereotypes’, adding: ‘BBC Three’s commissioning decisions are among the greatest mysteries of our age.’

BBC Three controller Danny Cohen and controller of comedy commissioning Cheryl Taylor have now ordered a second six-part series from makers Channel K. Broadcast dates are not yet known.

Here is a clip:

Published: 27 Jan 2010