Comedy short about mismatched friends

Jack Carroll is making a BBC Three short about  three Huddersfield teenagers with nothing in common except that they all have to catch the mobility bus to school.

The comic – and former Britain’s Got Talent competitor – wrote the show with screenwriter Tom Gregory and also stars as Mike, who thinks he’s way better than the group of loser friends he’s somehow accrued.

Mike has cerebral palsy, his pal Sunny uses a wheelchair, and Dan Syndrome has Down’s Syndrome. So Mike, Sunny and Dan are trapped together, at least for the ride to school.

Carroll – whose credits include Ladhood, Trollied and Eaten By Lions – said: ‘It has been a near lifelong ambition of mine to write and perform in a narrative comedy for the BBC. I’m delighted that this has taken the form of Mobility, a funny and irreverent look at the lives of teenagers with disabilities, and their daily mobility bus trip to college.

‘Deep thanks to my token able-bodied colleagues (‘coz you’ve gotta have a couple on every production these days) – our brilliant producer Sam Ward and my excellent co-writer Tom Gregory for all the laughs and insight they’ve brought to the show, although as I keep telling them I can’t "just sort them out with a blue badge".’

Sam Ward, executive producer for Test Mouse Productions added: ‘During lockdown, Jack and Tom’s Twitter stalking became so relentless that eventually I had no choice but to develop and produce their wonderful script with them.

‘Mobility brings a unique comic perspective to the universal experience of mucking about at the back of the school bus.’

David Simpson, executive producer for Tiger Aspect added: ‘Jack Carroll is an outstanding comic performer and the script he has written with Tom Gregory is laugh out loud funny with joyful comic characters. Audiences are going to love Mobility.’

The programme was announced at the BBC Comedy Festival in Newcastle this afternoon.

Made by: Test Mouse Productions and Tiger Aspect Production
Written by : Jack Carroll and Tom Gregory
Directed by:  Akaash Meeda
Producer: Sam Ward
Executive producers: David Simpson and Sam Ward
Commissioning editor for the BBC: Ben Caudell

Published: 11 May 2022