Hynes and Davis comedy sidelined to 11.45pm

The BBC has been accused of burying a new comedy from Julia Davis and Jessica Hynes because the tone is too ‘brutal’ for primetime.

Despite the track record of its stars and creators, the half-hour pilot Lizzie and Sarah has been scheduled to go out in the graveyard slot of 11.45pm.

And Henry Normal, managing director of producers Baby Cow, said the show turned out ‘darker’ than the BBC expected.

Davis and Hynes play suburban housewives whose lives go very wrong. One reviewer who saw a preview said: ‘The humour is brutal enough to make Nighty Night look like You've Been Framed, and there are moments of cruelty so biting that it's hard to know whether to laugh or cry… [but] it's funny, inventive and angry comedy, and there's little that can compare.’

The BBC has made little effort to promote the show, but defended its scheduling, saying the slot was appropriate and adding: ‘We don't always transmit pilots but in this instance we wanted to give fans of Julia Davis and Jessica Hynes an opportunity to see their most recent creative collaboration.’

Simon Pegg, who created Spaced with Hynes, joined the criticism of the time slot, Tweeting: ‘Seems amazing that the BBC commission a pilot from two of the funniest women in the UK then air it at 11.45pm. Jeez beeb, GROW A PAIR!!’.

rn

Published: 19 Mar 2010