As it appoints a new commissioner

ITV has hired the producer of Little Britain as it vows to plough more money into prime-tine comedy.

The company has appointed Myfanwy Moore as a new commissioning editor for comedy – the first time someone has had that job in two years.

Her brief is to develop scripted comedy, while existing ITV exec Claire Zolkwer, will continue to concentrate on comedy entertainment such as ITV2's Celebrity Juice and the new sports quiz You Cannot Be Serious with Alistair McGowan.

ITV has traditionally not been a major investor in comedy production, although it found a hit with Benidorm.

Moore was the first director of original programming at the Paramount Comedy Channel – now Comedy Central – and was also new comedy editor at the BBC.

Her credits also include The Mitchell and Webb Situation, The Dave Gorman Collection and Simon Munnery's Attention Scum.

ITV's director of entertainment and comedy Elaine Bedell said: 'The success of Benidorm on ITV1 shows what great value comedy can have in the schedule when we get it right – and we’re determined to build our comedy output across both ITV1 and ITV2.

'We have a number of pilots in production and we want to extend our reach with comedy entertainment too.

'I’m very pleased to be welcoming Myfanwy as a new member of our commissioning team.'

Published: 22 Mar 2012