...but probably won't get the title they want

Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer are shooting a new sitcom for the BBC.

Currently known only by the working title The Vic And Bob Sitcom, the pilot episode will be recorded at BBC Television Centre next month.

The script is still being finalised but the cast will include Reeves and Mortimer’s Shooting Stars sidekick Dan Renton Skinner aka Angelos Epithemiou as well as Matt Berry, Morgana Robinson and Pramface’s Dylan Edwards. It will also feature Norwegian stand-up Daniel Simonsen, last year’s Edinburgh Comedy Award best newcomer, in his first acting role in the UK.

Mortimer leaked the cast details in a Tweet which began: ‘Today rehearse new sitcom “Fuck This House” …’ The message was subsequently deleted.

Unsurprisingly, the BBC say that will not be the title the show will go under.

A spokeswoman couldn’t reveal whether it is in any way inspired by ITV’s 1970s sitcom Bless This House, starring Sid James and Diana Coupland as parents struggling to understand their offspring.

Last year, Reeves said he felt unwanted by the BBC after they cancelled Shooting Stars.

Before he and Bob debuted the pilot panel show Lucky Sexy Winners on Channel 4, Reeves said: ‘I didn't think we were required at the BBC any more so that's why we decided to go elsewhere.

‘Shooting Stars is getting on for 20 years old so it was probably a good thing the BBC didn't want it anymore. We can go on to be more creative.’

Reeves recently appeared in BBC Two’s Hebburn, written by Jason Cook and Graham Duff, and can currently be seen in the CBBC sketch show Ministry Of Curious Stuff.

His last venture into sitcom with Mortimer was 2004’s BBC Three series Catterick, which also featured Charlie Higson, Morwenna Banks, Reece Shearsmith, Matt Lucas and Tim Healy. The pair planned to revive some of the Catterick characters in a live tour last year but that never transpired.

Another clue as to the sitcom’s theme may lie in a film project Reeves and Mortimer were said to be developing last year. Reeves said: ‘It's probably going to be about a hotel and some people trying to make a hotel work.’

‘It’s going to be nothing like Fawlty Towers, it's going to be more like a Mike Leigh film.’

Their pilot will be one of the final recordings at BBC Television Centre before the West London site undergoes a £200million redevelopment to include a hotel, flats and offices.

-by Jay Richardson

Published: 19 Feb 2013