Audible creates 5 sitcom pilots
Audible, the company that sells audio downloads, has created five new sitcom pilots which it is giving away for free.
Working under the title This Is Your Pilot Speaking!, the company is asking comedy fans to vote for their favourite of the new shows, which they will then create full series of.
The company confirms: "This Is Your Pilot Speaking! invites listeners to decide on which of five comedy pilots commissioned by Audible Originals should progress to a full series."
The pilots include a show about a professional dominatrix, a sitcom about a useless secret government base, and a comedy about an atheist who ends up working for God.
The full list of pilots is as follows, with the descriptions provided by Audible:
The Un-Cynical Cannibal
This gloriously mad Desert Island romp is what Robinson Crusoe would have been like if the castaway had found a crop of magic mushrooms growing among the coconuts. The Un-Cynical Cannibal follows the adventures of Isaac, who is washed up in a tropical paradise after his boat is sunk by an excess of radio sound effects. Complete with zombies, walrus pirates, and a talking goldfish called Alfie, this fast-paced gag-fest blends musical hall comedy with surreal nonsense to laugh-out-loud effect.
Written by: Dewi Llywelyn. Stars: Richard Glover, Simon Kane, Daniel Lawrence Taylor, Bobby Mair, Sophie Henderson.
Catching Up With The Girls
A sharp yet warm-hearted comedy about what happens after university, Catching Up will appeal to anyone who has ever had an awkward evening with old friends. Ten years ago Carol, Sarah, Samira and Mac were best friends and bright young things at university, tipped for shining futures in the big wide world. Now in the middle of their thirty-something lives of work, relationships and responsibilities, they meet up again for a big reunion to recapture some of their shared past. Because while things might have not worked out entirely to plan for any of them - they will always have the comfort of old friends whose lives are even more weird and off-centre than their own.
Written by: Bronagh Fegan. Stars: Louise Ford, Margaret Cabourn-Smith, Carrie Quinlan, Grainne Maguire, Andy Goddard.
Working for The Big Man
Committed rationalist and atheist Ralph gets an unwelcome surprise when he dies on his honeymoon. He discovers that God does exist after all, and worse yet God has a job for him. Ralph finds himself on a cloud, working for God, who is very unhappy that his plan for the world has gone awry. Because if Ralph is ever going to make it through the pearly gates to enjoy an afterlife with his late (but beloved) bride, he's going to have to fix the world first. Bursting with fresh and imaginative writing, Working For The Big Man is a very funny and satirical take on religion, belief and petty office politics.
Written by: Tom Sears and Rob Sears. Stars: Kevin Eldon, Felicity Montagu, Mitch Benn.
Slaving Away
Meet (the other) Miranda. She's a cheerful, happy-go-lucky single girl in London ... who just happens to be a professional dominatrix. From the well-appointed dungeon in her flat, Miranda services her clients with flogging, extreme correction and (if she's lucky) gets the odd slave to pay for the honour of doing her vacuuming. Slaving Away follows Miranda's exploits as she tries to balance the demands of doing step aerobics in stilettoes on the buttocks of retired army officers with the demands of getting on with the neighbours. Then there's the other presence in her flat. Andy, the flatmate, who Miranda wants to convince she's the girl of his dreams - rather than his nightmares. Written by and starring sex-worker-turned-comedian Miranda Kane, Slaving Away is a refreshingly funny and gleefully rude sitcom that celebrates sex, non-conformity and doing the wrong thing.
Written by: Miranda Kane. Stars: Miranda Kane, Hugh Dennis, Jon Holmes.
The Hub
Deep underground is The Hub, a top-secret location from which a team of dedicated professionals keep us safe by waging war against terror, anarchy and foreigners in general. It's just a shame that all the start-of-the-art, counter-terrorist hardware can't stop them from screwing everything up. From secret operations ruined by Health and Safety Officers making covert agents wear hi-viz jackets, to mad scientists inventing edible time machines, The Hub is a place where the intelligence services are anything but intelligent. 24 meets Blackadder in this fast-paced, irreverent, madcap comedy, set in a world of secrets, shadows and utter stupidity.
Written by: Bruce Winwood. Stars: Susy Kane, Alex Kirk, Howard Gossington, Anjella Macintosh, Joel Morris.
This Is Your Pilot Speaking! marks the first time that Amazon-owed Audible has commissioned original comedy content in the UK.
Steve Carsey, who heads Audible Originals in the UK, says: "From the moment we first read them, we were very excited by the concepts and quality of writing in each of these sitcoms. The writing just jumps off the page. Watching them to come to life in the studio was thrilling but seeing how the public votes on them will be the really exciting part."
The shows can be downloaded for free via www.audible.co.uk/pilotspeaking
Listeners can then cast their vote by leaving a star rating on the product page. The competition will remain open until 31st December 2015, after which a full series will be commissioned of the pilot that has received the highest rating.