Revealed: Full details of BBC's landmark sitcom season

The BBC has announced further details of its landmark comedy season for this summer, with confirmation of a Keeping Up Appearances prequel.

Marking 60 years since Hancock's Half Hour made the transition to television, the announcement also includes details of a Ben Miller-fronted panel show on sitcoms for BBC One and a documentary for BBC Four, British Sitcom: 60 Years of Laughing at Ourselves.

It has also been announced that BBC Two is to showcase five new comedy pilots this summer, including comedies from Johnny Vegas and Graham Linehan and Sharon Horgan.

Set in the 1950s, Young Hyacinth is a one-off prequel to Keeping Up Appearances by the sitcom's original creator Roy Clarke. Left by their mother, Hyacinth bosses around her younger sisters Daisy, Violet and Rose.

Casting has yet to be revealed but the in-house BBC One production is directed by Cradle To Grave's Sandy Johnson, produced by Sarah Hitchcock and executive produced by Gareth Edwards.

On BBC One, Miller will host the panel show We Love Sitcom, promising to look at different generations of sitcoms and featuring familiar faces from the comedy world.

Meanwhile, BBC Four will air the documentary British Sitcom: 60 Years of Laughing At Ourselves, with clips from the nation's best-loved sitcoms and interviews from Steve Coogan, James Corden and Richard Curtis among others.

Details of the episodes featured in the Lost Sitcoms, announced yesterday on Chortle, have also been confirmed.

Shot from the original scripts after the classic recordings vanished from the BBC archives, they are the A Winter's Tale episode of Steptoe and Son, A Woman's Place of Till Death Us Do Part and The New Neighbour of Hancock's Half Hour, with Kevin McNally and Robin Sebastian reprising their roles from Radio 4's Missing Hancocks as 'the lad himself' and Kenneth Williams respectively.

Each episode will be shot in a theatrical-style presentation with a studio audience.

The extensive announcement also confirms a live episode of Mrs Brown's Boys to begin the season and the reboots of Are You Being Served?, Porridge and Up Pompeii.

As previously reported, the Are You Being Served? revival re-imagines Grace Brothers in 1988.

Written by Benidorm creator Derren Litten it features Only Fools and Horses' John Challis along with Arthur Smith, Mathew Horne, Jason Watkins, Roy Barraclough, Justin Edwards, Sherrie Hewson, Niky Wardley, Jorgie Porter and Kayode Ewumi.

Porridge, written by its original creators, Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais has been similarly updated to the present day, and will focus on Fletch's grandson, also known as Fletch, imprisoned for a series of cyber-crimes.

Fletch finds himself beholden to prison bad boy Richie Weeks and forced to use his hacking skills to get Weeks off the hook. The problem being that wily prison officer Meekie has got his beady eye on Fletch – 'he knows a wrong ’un when he sees one'.

Porridge will be directed by Dominic Brigstocke, whose credits include Tracey Ullman's Show and I'm Alan Partridge, and is being produced by Richard Webb and executive produced by Gregor Sharp.

Details for the new Up Pompeii are scant. But there is confirmation that veteran sitcom team Paul Minett and Brian Leveson, who wrote on My Family and The Piglet Files, as well as the 1991 revival, Further Up Pompeii, will pen the script.

Shane Allen, controller of BBC comedy commissioning said: 'The British sitcom is a huge part of our national identity and cultural heritage. This season is about celebrating the BBC’s rich legacy at a time when British comedy is as popular as ever.

'Our audiences have deep affection and nostalgia for iconic shows. Alongside the celebration of key comedies through homage, rediscovery and revivals involving established and new talent, we’ll also be making a raft of new sitcoms to complement them, and boost the BBC’s commitment to nurturing the hits of tomorrow.'

Charlotte Moore, controller of BBC channels and iPlayer added: 'Comedy has such a wonderful, rich tradition on the BBC and I'm committed to continuing that across all the channels. The landmark sitcom season will celebrate our very British sense of humour by reimagining hits of the past and giving a platform for new talent.'

- by Jay Richardson

Published: 10 Mar 2016