New sitcom set in survivors' camps

It is the sort of news likely to get the professionally offended even hotter under the collar. A new sitcom is being made about the Haitian earthquake.

Under The Sky gets laughs from the bleak conditions of a survivors’ camp on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince, where families face floods and blackouts every day.

But the dark comedy has not only proved a welcome entertainment for those living under such conditions, but it is being backed by the UN peace-keeping force – which actually commissioned the weekly 15-minute episodes to spread messages about safety, survival and official procedures.

The planned 16-part series is being shown on open-air screens at more than a dozen camps, where families gather for four hours of entertainment a night.

Under The Sky, now on its third episode, follows a fictional middle-class family made homeless by January’s disaster, which claimed up to 230,000 lives. However many details – such as whether any of the characters’ relatives died in the quake, have not yet been revealed to viewers.

Director Jacques Roc told the Associated Press news agency: ‘There's a lot that's going on in the camps right now, and when you stay in the camp you learn about it. They have to adjust to this kind of behavior and this is what you try to show to people.

‘Haitians like comedy. They like to laugh. Even if it gets serious they have to laugh somehow.’

• Jarred Christmas, The Pajama Men, Andrew Lawrence, Lucy Porter and more are taking part in a fundraiser for Haiti at the Udderbelly on London's South Bank next Monday (31st)

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Published: 24 May 2010