Five And Paramount Commission First Joint Comedy

Five and Paramount Comedy have co-commissioned their first series in a joint comedy initiative announcing plans to produce a UK version of hit US series Desperate Housewives with the new comedy Suburban Shootout.

The eight-part, 30 minutes series from production company Feelgood Fiction, will follow the surreal world of two power-crazed housewives embroiled in a turf war for control of the fictional Home Counties town of Little Stempington and is expected to premier on Five in January 2006.

Commenting on the new programme, Five and Paramount’s commissioning editor of comedy, Graham Smith said: “This is a very exciting project to kick off this joint venture between Five and Paramount Comedy. Feel good Fiction has an excellent track record and they have come up with a project unique in its comic invention.”

Written by comedy newcomers Gary Martin and Roger Beckett, Suburban Shootout is a mix of sexy mothers, high farce and black comedy in equal measure, with the series already being bought by major US cable network Oxygen.

Smith added: “We welcome Oxygen’s collaboration and anticipate a fruitful long-term relationship.”

Five’s films and acquired series continue to perform well, with the channel announcing that it had received five Emmy-nominations for its US series. Among others, Quentin Tarantino has been nominated for the season finale of CSI: Crime Scene, Hugh Laurie for his title role in House and Glenn Close for best actress in the new series of The Shield.

The broadcaster recently had its licence fee payments slashed by a massive 30% to £9 million for 2005 signalling Ofcom’s awareness of the pressures on broadcasters due to the impending analogue switchover and multi-channel programming (see Five Sees Licence Fees Slashed By Ofcom).

The new terms mean the cost of Five’s analogue licence has been reduced by 64% over the last three years, down from £25 million in 2002 to £13 million in 2004 prior to the latest cut.

Five: 020 7550 5555 www.five.tv