Zoe Lyons records a sitcom pilot

With a cast of familiar comedy names

Zoe Lyons has recorded her sitcom pilot, No Gods No Golf.

The episode, which was taped in front of an audience at the Komedia in Brighton last night, is part of Radio 4’s Comedy Playhouse season and will air in January.

Lyons stars as a criminal defence lawyer who, like herself, is in her mid-40s, gay and living in Brighton.

But despite being financially secure, without a religion, kids to look after, or golf club membership, she’s often woken with the nagging thought, ‘What’s this all about?’

She shares her flat with her nephew, Grayson, a 20-something experimental chef and her circle of friends are an eclectic mix of local characters pursuing freelance creative careers from cupcake making to dog fashion accessories.

The show features a cast of familiar comedy faces including stand-ups Terry Alderton (pictured with Lyons at the taping), Angela Barnes, Michael Fabbri and Jenny Bede alongside Upstart Crow’s Steve Speirs, Plebs’s Jon Pointing, Benidorm’s Selina Griffiths and Coronation Street’s Sue Vincent.

Another comic, Barry Castagnola, was the producer with Mario Stylianides as the executive producer. through their companies Rustle Up and Golden Path respectively.

Other shows in the Comedy Playhouse strand are:

The Mayoress, a satire of local politics, daft bureaucracy and small-time power, written by Brenda Gilhooly and starring Harry Hill, Jack Dee and Michelle Collins.
Unite explores class, compromise and step-sibling rivalry when a working class South Londoner falls in love with an upper class property developer. Written by and starring Mark Steel, his son Elliot and Ivo Graham.
Support, written by and starring Bridget Christie, about an enthusiastic but incompetent do-gooder who wants to help people in her local town
The Specials by Jenny Laville, which features Henry, a boy living with his mum, his grandad, his obsession with The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy
Amna Saleem’s sitcom Beta Female, which explores the multiple identities young women from ethnic minorities must follow to navigate their way through life.
Jack Bernhardt’s British Troll Farm, set in a secret Government unit dedicated to fighting a cyberwar by the power of a million snarky Tweets.
City of Tomorrow in which a carer tries to help disadvantaged kids. Two problems, they don’t want his help and he’s got the wrong keys to unlock their potential.
Hazel Tours, a sitcom from the creators of Clare In The Community about a local historian who fives tours of her town of Weith.
David Reed’s Napoleon Moon, set in a dystopian 25th Century where one man is determined to prove that he is worthy of joining mankind's elite amongst the stars.
Hypertension, for which no details have yet been disclosed