BBC pins hope on new comedy

The BBC has commissioned a half-hour comedy they hope will be the next South Park.

Edinburgh film-maker Chris Waitt has been given £200,000 to make a full-lenght pilot of Furry Avenue, about the lives of a bunch of hard-living puppets.

The commission came after producers were impressed with the toilet humour and crude sex gags in a ten-minute short he made for just £2,000.

The BBC has agreed to give Waitt full directorial control of the pilot, and has promised to screen the finished pilot on BBC2, irrespective of whether a full series is ordered.

Waitt first made the short for Edinburgh Mediabase, which is screening the original at an event called Best Of The Blue Room at the city's Cameo Cinema at 6pm on Monday December 16. Tickets are £1.50.

Published: 9 Dec 2002