BBC Commissions ITV Studios for Online Comedy

LONDON: BBC Comedy has commissioned ITV Studios’ comedy division to produce the five-part online series Brian Pern, starring The Fast Show’s Simon Day.

Brian Pern is a video-blog style sitcom, centered on a fictional character who was once a flamboyant ’70s rocker. Now, he is working on his sixth solo album, 15 years in the making, and the show documents the modern-day frustrations of his daily routine, using the fictional fan-site video blog as the setting. Brian Pern is written by Rhys Thomas with Simon Day and produced by Saurabh Kakkar for ITV Studios.

 

 

Saurabh Kakkar, the controller of comedy at ITV Studios, said, “Developed as a multiplatform idea, Brian Pern is ITV Comedy’s first- ever commission exclusively for online. Simon Day delivers a brilliant and completely original performance—while thanks to Rhys Thomas’ intimate ‘video-blog’ concept and hilarious script, the viewer is immediately up-close and probably over-familiar with Brian’s bizarre yet mundane world. We intend to make some more Pern video blogs for the autumn and are looking forward to developing opportunities for Brian over the coming year.”

 

 

BBC Comedy’s executive editor, Simon Lupton, added, “Brian Pern is a totally refreshing and funny interpretation of a ’70s rocker, 30 years after their wild-times. Cleverly executed as a video-blog sitcom, we believe the show has great potential and is already drawing a big buzz in the digital community.”