BBC Wales falls back into the Tourist Trap

BBC Wales has commissioned a second series of its mockumentary Tourist Trap, starring Sally Phillips  as the hapless boss of a fictional Welsh tourist board.

The comedy – also starring Elis James, Steve Speirs and Mike Bubbins  –  launched with a six-part series as part of the broadcaster’s recent Festival of Funny

It was written by Gareth Gwynn, Sian Harries and Tudur Owen, who will pen the second series.

BBC Wales has also announced that the sitcom The Tuckers, which was also piloted in the comedy season, will now be developed into a full series.

Speirs, who played Big Alan in Stella and Richard Burbage in Upstart Crow, wrote the series and  also starred in it.

The comedy is set in the south Wales valleys and revolves about a family of chancers ‘low on cash but high on spirit - determined to survive through any means necessary’. 

Paul Forde, the commissioning executive for comedy in BBC Wales said: ‘The recent Festival of Funny demonstrated the wealth of comedy talent that exists in Wales. 

‘Tourist Trap, the first comedy on BBC Wales TV in nearly a decade was so well-received by the audience that we wanted to establish it with a second run. We’re also pleased to greenlight a full series of The Tuckers with a writer and performer of Steve Speirs’ calibre.’

The broadcaster has also announced a new development budget aimed at commissioning the next phase of its comedy strategy.

Head of commissioning Nick Andrews said: ‘Audiences are consuming comedy across multiple devices and platforms and we want BBC Wales to be leading the charge and developing the generation defining comedy of tomorrow. 

This development fund will allow us to discover and then incubate the very best of Welsh comedy talent.’

BBC Wales has returned to comedy programming after a decade-long hiatus, following a £8.5million budget increase – bucking the trend for cuts elsewhere in the Corporation.

• Click here for an interview with Sally Phillips about Tourist Trap and more.

Published: 13 Nov 2018