Plus staff changes at Baby Cow and Funny Women

Two emerging writers are to join BBC Studios’ audio comedy team on a development scheme that dates back to 1978.

Angela Channell and Adrian Gray will each spend six months working on BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds programmes including The News Quiz, Dead Ringers and Evil Genius. They will also contribute to panel shows, sketches, stand-up recordings and podcasts, and pitch ideas for commercial audio platforms.

Channell, a writer and performer from Manchester, joins first. She spent five years writing for satirical website The Daily Mash, completed a comedy diploma at the National Film and Television School, and has written for Late Night Mash and Dead Ringers. 

Gray follows for the second half of the year. He has built a following of more than a million subscribers on YouTube through what he describes as chaotic and silly videos, and has also written for television and radio.

The scheme, originally called the Radio Comedy Writers Bursary, has previously helped launch the careers of writers including Tony Roche, who went on to write for Succession, Georgia Pritchett, a writer on Veep, Kat Sadler, who created Such Brave Girls, and Andy Wolton, writer of Trying.

Richard Morris, creative director of BBC Studios audio comedy and entertainment, said the team was ’really excited’ to have such talented people joining. ’It is important to continue to seek out and champion new voices,’ he said.

Channell said landing the role felt ’beyond surreal’. ’BBC Studios gave me my first writing credit on Newsjack back in the heady days of lockdown,’ she said. ’Like so many of us, I’ve been building my comedy career during commutes, long nights and behind reception desks of Temp jobs. I feel like the shiniest boiled egg in Britain.’

Gray said he was ’beyond excited’. ’It’s also a chance to collaborate with some fantastic writers and producers, which means a lot to me as currently I rarely leave my bedroom or talk to anyone apart from my partner,’ he said. 

• Steve Coogan’s Baby Cow Productions has appointed Olly Cambridge as head of comedy. Having previously worked on programmes for other producers such as Everyone Else Burns and A Whole Lifetime with Jamie Demetriou, his brief is now to lead  Baby Cow’s comedy development and production, working with writers and performers to create original series for UK and international broadcasters. Meanwhile Kelly McGolpin, who worked on Chewing Gum, takes a newly created role overseeing Baby Cow’s drama slate.

• Ali Jay who previously co-produced the LGBTQ comedy show Screamers, has taken over as regional producer of Funny Women Live, a monthly show at the Komedia in Brighton, from Kate McGann, who has done the job for the last two years.

Published: 7 Apr 2026