Featuring Fringe favourites... and a Sherlock star

The full line-up of Channel 4 Comedy Blaps has now been unveiled.

They feature Max & Ivan – as previously revealed by Chortle; Vicki Pepperdine and Jessica Knappett in a series from In Cahoots sketch duo Paul G Raymond and Luke Manning; Sherlock star Amanda Abbington in a one-off written by British comic Will Smith; and Australian comedian Ryan Shelton.

The full set of commissions are:

How to Life

A three-part series from Ryan Shelton, already a familiar face down under through appearance on the likes of Rove and Hamish & Andy's Gap Year.

In How To Life, an egotistical know-it-all turned his bizarre life experiences into a series of idiotic 'How To' lessons.

Described as 'a fast-moving hybrid of narrative, sketch and surrealism', the lessons are how to lie, how to French kiss and how to escape boring conversations.

It also stars Hamish Blake as Ryan's semi-identical twin brother and Kath & Kim co-creator Gina Riley as his mother/nemesis, along with Amber Clayton, Georgina Naidu and Pia Miranda.

The Educatoror

A fast-paced, naturalistic three-part comedy series set at a tough, inner-city London girls school written by, starring and directed by In Cahoots duo Paul G Raymond and Luke Manning. Vicki Pepperdine and Jessica Knappett also feature in the cast.

The Educatoror of the title is Arun Jason, an Oxbridge-educated teacher. He's sensitive, artistically high-minded, and thinks he's Robin Williams in Dead Poet's Society. But when leaves his cushy post at a privileged private school, he has a rude awakening at a tough, inner-city London school.

The Reunion

A three-part series based on Max & Ivan's 2013 Edinburgh Fringe show of the same name. But it's different from their live show, in which the duo played all the characters, as they have now recruited a supporting cast.

Anna Crilly co-stars as the headteacher, with Tom Bell, Massive Dad performer Stevie Martin and Clever Peter's Will Hartley all playing fellow ex-students, returning after a decade away. Chewing Gum's Shola Adewusi has a role, too.

Max and Ivan wrote the show, as well as starring under the direction of Geoff Posner, who has previously worked with Harry Enfield and Victoria Wood.

Co-producer David Tyler of Pozzitive Television described The Reunion as 'naturalistic but high-pitched, with a lot of action'.

'There are all sorts of interconnecting storylines – romance and friendship and chaos and things never said,' he told Chortle. 'It all explodes. Bad pupils who've come back. Pupils who nobody can remember but still seem to be there…'

The Reunion also features a number of cameos including Tom Parry, Freya Parker and Celeste Dring of Lazy Susan, Andy Zaltzman (as DJ Pu$$y Lord), Richard Soames, Ed Gaughan (who voices Baron von Greenback in Danger Mouse) and Arnab Chanda.

We Are Family

An 11-minute one-off comedy about a picture-perfect family, the Conways, who shot to fame through a hugely popular family dining website, which spawned a raft of successful spin-off businesses.

But pretty soon the perfect family had become a fame-hungry, cynical, money-grabbing bunch of hypocrites.

The short stars Amanda Abbington, Bebe Cave, Laura Checkley, Tom Goodman-Hill and Antonia Thomas and is written by Will Smith.

All four Blaps are now available to watch here.

Blaps are a testing ground for Channel 4 comedy. Previous shorts that have been developed to series include Roisin Conaty's Game Face, which airs early next year, the Bafta-winning Chewing Gum and hidden camera prank show Bad Robots.

Nerys Evans, deputy head of Channel 4 comedy, said: 'Blaps are a really exciting opportunity to work with a variety of talented new writers, directors and actors. And the series has a great track record of being the birthplace of many series commissions also.

'C4's Comedy Blaps are always innovative, varied and surprising, and this new batch is crammed with brilliant new talent and fresh ideas. It's hugely rewarding to give people either their first break with a broadcaster or the opportunity to work up their passion projects to sell their vision.

'It also allows us to give people a huge amount of creative freedom and that has resulted in some fantastically funny projects starting life.'

Published: 8 Feb 2017