The BBC has confirmed a raft of comedy commissions, including a third series of Bafta-winning Amandaland, alongside nine other shows. The announcement was made by BBC Comedy Director Jon Petrie at the BBC Comedy Festival in Liverpool.
Returning Favourites
Amandaland, starring Lucy Punch, Dame Joanna Lumley and Philippa Dunne, won the Bafta for best scripted comedy at Sunday's ceremony. It will return for a six-part third series. Black Ops, featuring Gbemisola Ikumelo and Hammed Animashaun as undercover police officers, has also been renewed for a third series. Ikumelo won a Bafta for best female comedy performance for her role.
Other returning shows include Am I Being Unreasonable?, written by and starring Daisy May Cooper and Selin Hizli, who expressed excitement and slight concern about returning for a third series. Things You Should Have Done, Such Brave Girls, Mammoth and Two Doors Down are also set for new series.
New Programmes
Petrie unveiled several new shows, including Hopley Hall, which follows staff and volunteers at a country house in Northern Ireland, starring Derry Girls' Jamie-Lee O'Donnell. Opening Up, set and filmed in and around Manchester, stars Edinburgh Comedy Award winner Amy Gledhill. A documentary, Twenty Years Of Not Going Out, will mark two decades of the sitcom created by and starring Lee Mack.
Industry Celebration
Seb Barwell, BBC Comedy commissioning editor, said: 'Amanda and friends continue to capture the hearts of the nation, so we're delighted to announce a third series.' Petrie praised Liverpool's comedy talent, from Ken Dodd to Alison Steadman, and emphasised comedy's role as a 'survival mechanism' that brings people together. He also joked about camping outside incoming BBC director-general Matt Brittin's office to champion comedy funding.
