Shortlist announced in BBC Wales comedy writing project

Stand-ups Kiri Pritchard-McLean and Robin Morgan are among those to make the shortlist of a new comedy writing scheme from BBC Cymru Wales

Find Me Funny will result in up to three new comedy pilots for BBC One Wales and the iPlayer from new writing talent. An open call for submissions via the BBC Writers' Room attracted 349 scripts, of which eight have made the shortlist.

They are:

ABERNORMAL, by James Farmer & Robin Hayward

A single camera sitcom set in the fictional welsh town of Pen-yr-Myrdd. Friends Barry, Dafydd, Fffion and Iestyn find themselves caught up in a supernatural threat from a mysterious woman. The writers previously took a sketch show to Edinburgh and now Robin is a senior editor at music broadcaster Box Plus, where he has recently worked on sketch show Pop Sludge, while James works as a TV writer, and has written for shows such as The Last Leg, 8 Out Of 10 Cats and Frankie Boyle’s New World Order.

CLICK, by Hannah George

Serial internet dater, Liz tries to turn her luck around by contacting a group of single women on dating website in an attempt to make some new single friends and start meeting men in real life. Hannah has previously written for such shows as Wolfblood (CBBC), The House of Anubis (Nickelodeon), Trollied (Sky1) and The Lodge (Disney).

DIG DEEP, by Kiri Pritchard-McLean

Sisters Buddug and Cerysrun a charity shop in Colwyn Bay…. but they run out of donations so turn to ‘dark methods’ to get their stock. As well as being a stand-up Kiri is one quarter of the multi award-winning Gein’s Family Giftshop and one half of the hit podcast All Killa no Filla.

‘I’m so chuffed my script has made the final eight.’ she said. ‘I wrote about Colwyn Bay charity shops, old women and murder because why shouldn’t you combine your three great loves?’’

DONOR, by Matt Hartley

Set in Cardiff, Donor is the story of mortal enemies who unwittingly become parents together through a historic sperm donation. Matt has written for stage and screen with work for Channel 4, Radio 4, Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre, among others. His play Eyam will receive its world premier at Shakespeare’s Globe this autumn.

HALFWAY, by Sion Edwards

Halfway is a sitcom about the trials and tribulations of running a burger van in a lay-by in the middle of Wales. Sion has acted and performed stand-up.

HOME, by Robin Morgan

A sitcom about 90-year old Myra, who moves into a care home in Cardiff where her millennial granddaughter works Robin is a stand-up and writer from Cardiff. His writing credits include he News Quiz, The Now Show and Rich Hall’s US Election Breakdown, among others. His debut hour-long stand-up show was adapted into a one-off special for BBC Radio Wales last year.

THE OTHER TEAM, by Fflur Dafydd & Huw Davies

Recovering alcoholic Fiona finds love with fellow rugby widow Cerys: but how do they break it to their rugby obsessed husbands? Fflur is an award-winning novelist and screenwriter who writes in Welsh and English., including all 24 episodes of S4C’s series Parch. Huw is an English teacher turned children’s novelist.

UNSUSTAINABLE, by Lloyd Glanville

Unsustainable follows a minor, ramshackle department in Natural Resources Wales that is thrust into the spotlight when their manager Ava makes a bold announcement to the world. Lloyd has previously worked on the production side of various TV programmes and independent films.

Published: 16 Feb 2018