Phoebe Waller-Bridge in talks over plans

The BBC is in talks to televise the stage version of Fleabag.

Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s acclaimed six-part BBC Three sitcom started life as a one-woman show at the 2013 Edinburgh Fringe, and it recently returned to London’s Soho Theatre where the run sold out in record time. 

As fans wait for news of a second TV series, the BBC is planning to shoot the theatre show, trade website Broadcast reports.

Producer Lydia Hampson, of Two Brothers Pictures, told Chortle: ‘We’re just exploring various opportunities at present, but would be very excited at the prospect of bringing the live show to broadcast, it remains a phenomenal play, and would be fantastic to bring it to more viewers in its original form.’

And a BBC spokeswoman said there was ‘a desire to do it’, but added that nothing had been formally signed.

BBC Three has shot live stand-up sets before, and plans to release Luisa Omielan’s stand-up special What Would Beyoncé Do?! on Valentine’s Day. 

Waller-Bridge told Broadcast that she hoped there would be a second series, but it was vital to ‘remain true’ to the character.

And she said she was reassured that audiences found her dark humour funny. ‘I wanted to say some of those edgy, contradictory, messy, weird things on stage in front of an audience and see what happens,’ she said after Fleabag scooped two gongs at the Broadcast Awards. ’It’s the most amazing feeling that she has come this far.’

Published: 8 Feb 2017