Shane Allen gives his commissioning wish-list

BBC comedy chief Shane Allen has revealed his wish-list for new shows – with a family-friendly sitcom for BBC One a priority.

He has ordered two more series of Comedy Playhouse one-offs in the hunt for new mainstream hits, and admitted: 'We struggle to find pre-watershed pieces that can be family-friendly.'

The last season of Comedy Playhouse showcased Hospital People, based around Tom Binns' character Ivan Brackenbury, which starts its full run on April 21.

Allen revealed the sort of shows he wants to order on the commissioning part of the BBC website aimed at production companies.

'There's a real appetite for both studio audience and single-camera shows which demonstrate the perfect alchemy of premise, writing and casting,' he said of BBC One.

'There's been a perception that BBC One comedy by virtue of the fact that it has to be mainstream has to be safe and convention and a bit trad. There are plenty of examples of things that have worked really well on BBC One that haven't been that,' and cited The Royle Family, Outnumbered and Peter Kay's Car Share as offering something different and unique.

On BBC Two, Allen is looking for four or five 'New on Two' pilots following the success of Motherland and Home from Home last year.

He said he'd 'love to have more satire' on BBC Two – but wasn't looking for any more period-set comedies, 'although we will never say never'.

The £208,000-a-year controller of comedy commissioning said he wanted a breadth of styles and voices that might appeal to 'tribes' rather than the whole family.

And he said that he wanted to created 'a whole palette of comedy' – with a diversity not just confined to race, but also class, disability, age and gender.

For online channel BBC Three, Allen is seeking extra 'mid-form' scripted stories between five and ten minutes, as well as ideas for its Comedy Feeds which generally run for the same duration.

'There's room to do one-off ideas, to do little mini-narrative ideas, to do pastiches, to sketches, to do very quick things, and to do things that might have a life beyond.' he said.

Allen added he was looking for 'really exciting talent' and the 'next generation' of stars, writers and directors with ideas that would appeal to a young audience – and again seeking a 'massive diversity of voices.'

BBC Four only commissions two or three comedy series per year with Allen currently looking to fill slots for next year, saying the tone is 'considered and sophisticated for a savvy audience', citing Detectorists and Brian Pern, as being created by comedians 'who really know their world'.

Here are a couple more videos from the commissioning site in which Allen talks about developing comedy ideas and pitching them to the BBC:

Published: 10 Apr 2017