Including one from comedy duo The Electrric Head

Production company  Big Finish Originals are to release six new full-cast audio sitcom pilots from up-and-coming writers.

The Comedy Playhouse collection – due out in November – came as a result of an open submission competition for scripts.

The winner was The Cracks Are Showing by Cy Henty and Alan Ronald, the comedy duo known as The Electric Head, currently performing at the Edinburgh Fringe.

 It will be released alongside five runners-up – including one set in a run-down resort called Chortle-on-Sea – as a £19.99 download.

All those who buy the collection will be asked to vote on their favourite, which will then be made into a full series.

The full list of plots and their blurbs are:

Sad Sunk Rock by Tom Worsley

After his girlfriend dumps him and he proves unbearable, Victor is sent to join three other marine biologists on the isolated island of Sad Sunk Rock. They are Elspeth, who has been there for 38 years and talks to the sheep, Deborah, who has had no contact with the outside world, and Ally, a wild-eyed Scotsman who is technically twins, slightly radioactive and who once fought an alligator in the Amazon. Victor’s first thought is to return to the mainland at the first

opportunity, but somehow he begins to feel that he might fit in… It stars Forbes Masson, Siobhán Redmond, Gwithian Evans, and Rameet Rauli.

Scribbling by Amy Xander

Scribbling follows four inhabitants of a rural, West Country town – Madeleine, Edward, Ling and Beth – who reluctantly bond after joining a writers’ group run by brazen new resident Laurie, a

former entertainer still desperate for an audience.It stars Suzy Bloom, Timothy Bentinck  and Sagar Radia

Members by Jack Bradfield & Fergus Macdonald

The House of Commons during the reign of King George II is a strange and cloistered world of the corrupt and the eccentric, where the main businesses of the day are boozing, whoring, and trying to get pudding served earlier. Due to an administrative mix-up, the young Henry Fthistle finds himself elected to parliament, and finds it is almost impossible to leave. It stars Nicholas Briggs, Dan Starkey and Maddison Bulleyment.

Square Peggs by Jenny Deveaux & Phil Butcher

It’s the Peggs first day in their new country home, but all is not well – there’s no mobile signal, no takeaway, the neighbours are… different, and Dawn’s run over the previous owner’s cat. Can

anything else go wrong? It stars Sacha Dhawan, Rachel Fenwick, Annette Holland, Clive Hayward, and Sagar Radia.

Golden Sands by Toby Walker

Chortle-by-Sea is a bleak, desolate and decaying seaside town, and few visitors come to purchase the peculiar novelties from Julie’s gift shop or to sample the delights of Sue’s chip shop. And it is not much of a place for the young, awkward Rowan and Sophie to have a blossoming romance. It is, however, the ideal place for a murder.

It stars Judy Flynnand Melanie Kilburn

The Cracks are Showing by Alan Ronald & Cy Henty

When Karloff goes for an interview to be an ‘office scapegoat’, he is found to be too optimistic for the position, and is thrown out of the window. In his death, he is joined by painter and philosopher William Blake on a metaphysical quest through the underworld to find out who is responsible for humankind’s misery. It  is performed by its writers, with additional voices from Barnaby Edwards.

Producer and script editor Jonathan Morris said: ‘It has been a huge joy to work with all these writers and, at the end of every recording session, my face ached from smiling. We have six very different scripts, covering every style of comedy from domestic to historical to metaphysical. And they all have fabulous casts, including one or two comedy legends.

'Members has a bit of a Blackadder the Third feel, set in the cloistered world of the 18th century House of Commons, with really ripe characters and dialogue. Sad Sunk Rock is about four marine biologists stuck on an isolated island, which reminded me of cult shows like Nightingales and Father Ted. 

‘Golden Sands is about oddballs in a rundown seaside town, a bit like Broadchurch but with the one thing Broadchurch was missing – jokes. And The Cracks Are Showing is a Python-esque take on Dante’s Divine Comedy. They're all great, and they all have

the potential to go to a series.’

Producer Lizzie Worsdell added: ‘I’m delighted that Big Finish listeners can now hear these six winning comedy pilots from an exciting new group of writers. Square Peggs will have you laughing out loud with its hilariously spot-on depiction of rural life. In Scribbling, we meet five distinct characters who are all incredibly funny and endearing as they navigate the quirks of a local writers’ group."

Big Finish Originals: Comedy Playhouse can be ordered from www.bigfinish.com. The company is best known for releasing Doctor Who audio stories. 

Published: 31 Jul 2025