BBC Banks On Comedy For Spring Schedule

BBC TWO has unveiled its spring schedule, hoping to tempt viewers with a season of comedy, headed by the much-anticipated Extras, created by The Office star, Ricky Gervais.

Roly Keating, controller of BBC TWO, announced the new programme line up, stating: “This spring, we’ll be turning up the temperature on BBC TWO with some great new comedy from some of Britain’s best comic talent.

“Ricky Gervais returns to BBC TWO for Extras, the eagerly awaited follow-up to The Office; rising star, Catherine Tate, is back for a second series of The Catherine Tate Show; and there’s a welcome return to BBC TWO for the fabulous Joanna Lumley in Sensitive Skin.”

The spring schedule also includes several fresh approaches to factual programming, with religion and politics both receiving new commissions to present the topics in less orthodox style.

Keating said: “In Factual we’ll be taking refreshing new approaches to traditionally less accessible subjects, like religion in The Monastery, an experiment to discover if age-old values can still talk to a new generation, and politics in How To Start Your Own Country, one man’s quest to start his own country.

Drama is also high on the spring agenda, with To The Ends Of The Earth headlining the genre and illustrating William Golding’s classic sea trilogy on the rites of passage of a young English aristocrat as he makes a voyage to Australia in the early 19th century.

The programme line up will go head to head with Channel 4, in particular the station’s drama content, which Channel 4 has worked hard to make central to it’s 2005 schedules. Channel 4 has already put aside an additional £13.5 million for the genre, with much of the increase paid for by the lack of cricket coverage following Sky’s deal to screen England’s test matches (see Channel 4 Bets On Drama For Spring Schedule).

BBC: 020 8743 8000 www.bbc.co.uk

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