Radio comedy moves to TV

Paul Whitehouse’s Radio 4 comedy Nurse is to transfer to TV.

A four-part version has been commissioned by BBC Two, following the same format as the radio version, in which a psychiatric nurse goes into the homes of her patients.

Whitehouse plays many of the characters alongside Simon Day and Cecilia Noble, while Esther Coles plays the nurse. The same cast is expected to return for the TV version.

The show has some similarities with Whitehouse’s short-lived 2005 series Help, in which he played 25 patients of Chris Langham's psychotherapist.

Whitehouse told RadioTimes.com: ‘This is a labour of love of mine and my mate Dave Cummings and I am really pleased that it is to move to TV. We will be running for four episodes which seems about right as it would nice to break it in gently.'

Shane Allen, the BBC’s controller of comedy commissioning added: ‘Paul is the leading character comedian of his generation. This is a brave insight in to often marginalised people in society and plays to Paul’s ability to make you cry with laughter one minute and cry with empathy the next.’

The original radio show was acclaimed by those critics who heard it in February. The Observer's Euan Ferguson said: 'It's deeply subtle, and the subject matter doesn't lend itself to LOL-itude, but it was a quiet (if inexcusably late-night) delight, and executed with only about four squillion times the sensitivity of Ricky Gervais's Derek.'

Published: 8 Apr 2014