Scott Bennett sitcom in the works for the BBC
- Scott Bennett is writing and set to star in his first television sitcom, described as a "warm, mainstream" comedy
- "We're at the stage where we're working through pilot scripts but it looks like it's going forward, which is wonderful" he said
- Bennett is also adapting his current stand-up show Blood Sugar Baby for a Radio 4 special and book
Scott Bennett is developing his own sitcom for the BBC, British Comedy Guide can exclusively reveal.
The stand-up, who begins a four-night run of his Blood Sugar Baby show at London's Soho Theatre tonight, is also adapting that story, about his infant daughter Olivia falling ill with a rare genetic condition called congenital hyperinsulinism, for a Radio 4 special and a book, which he plans to write with his wife Jemma.
Bennett is writing the "warm, mainstream sitcom" with fellow stand-up Jason Cook, Early Doors co-creator Phil Mealey and comedy writer Anna Costello (Dead Canny) for Cook's Schnoobert Productions and Channel X North.
With the comedy's plot still under wraps, "it's an early stage but really exciting" Bennett told BCG in an interview published today.
The comic, who will also star in the project, added: "Writing a sitcom was an idea that most comics had during lockdown when we were all desperately trying to pull thoughts out of notepads, things scribbled on bus tickets for years" he said. "We're at the stage where we're working through pilot scripts but it looks like it's going forward, which is wonderful.
"With comedy, I've always wanted to leave a legacy. My favourite comics do that. Peter Kay had Car Share and Phoenix Nights, Harry Hill had TV Burp. I love it when comics take their style of writing and bleed it out into other things. At some point, I want to look back at a body of work that I've done. And a sitcom has always been a part of that. I'll have to juggle a lot to make it but it's a good problem to have.
"A mainstream sitcom is what I've always wanted to do. It adds to what I'm offering in my stand-up in both tours, which is that relatable, warm and unifying night out really."
Posting on social media in August, Cook added: "Amazing day 1 of the writers room for a brand new show. What a team of legends!", tagging in Schnoobert Productions producer and former Metroland sketch group member Mark Kenny as well.
Bennett's sitcom reunites Murder, They Hope creator Cook with Channel X North, after it co-produced his 2012-2013 BBC Two north-east family sitcom Hebburn, starring Chris Ramsey, Kimberley Nixon, Vic Reeves, Gina McKee and Lisa McGrillis.
Meanwhile, Bennett told BCG that he will record Blood Sugar Baby for Radio 4 in Nottingham in July and that he and Jemma, with whom he records the Brew With The Bennetts podcast, hope to turn the story into a book.
"We've got the pitch together" he said. "I'd love to do it, get it out there. Because there are a lot of books about parenting, the struggles and how hard it is. But there's little uplifting from the point of view of being in a hospital. And there needs to be, there needs to be a book on when parenting doesn't go the way you think it's going to go. With a positive outlook. It feels like there's a gap in the market there to me."