Channel said to favour panel shows

The broadcaster is said to be instead looking at light entertainment and panel shows, which are usually much cheaper to produce.

Five is just about to launch its next scripted comedy, Angelo’s, but this is likely to be the last for some time, according to trade newspaper Broadcast.

The new show, written by and starring Pulling creator Sharon Horgan, is based in a London greasy spoon café. However, it has been scheduled into a relative ‘graveyard’ slot: 11pm on Fridays, after US import 30 Rock.

Five’s last commission was a second series of Suburban Shootout, which attracted an average audience of less than 600,000.

However, a Five spokesman said of the reports: 'It's all pure speculation and we don't comment on speculation'

Three years ago, Five’s head of comedy Graham Smith launched a major drive for new sitcom scripts, saying he was seeking something that will ‘appeal to fans of The Office, Little Britain, Smack The Pony and Spaced, but also Friends and Will and Grace’.

Shows it developing since then included Breadheads, from Peep Show creators Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain, and Primrose Hill, a satire on the North London celebrity enclave written by Gimme Gimme Gimme creator Jonathan Harvey. But neither made it to the screen.

Here's a clip from Angelo's:

Published: 8 Nov 2007