Britain's TV comedy commissioners talk about their work

The BBC’s head of comedy says he was happy not to have any American funding for Small Prophets – as a US studio might have ruined the idea.

Jon Petrie said they probably wouldn’t have been able to keep quirky character actor Pearce Quigley as the lead had Hollywood producers got involved.

Speaking at the BBC Comedy Festival in Liverpool today, he said: ‘We were struggling to get funding and I think it’s good in a weird way that we didn’t get American money. 

‘We were worried about that because we know what Americans are like and they would have insisted on having some mad name in the lead.’

International finance has been harder to come by for comedy shows in recent years, but  Petrie reiterated his comments from last year’s event by seeing the positives in that situation. 

‘It’s nice not having to think about American co-pros because you have them coming in and saying stuff [about how the show should be made].’

He added: ‘That’s why we had a lot of stuff made in London’ rather than reflecting regional voices, as the capital has greater international recognition.

Sky’s Alex Moody agreed, saying: ‘I've definitely had conversations with Americans pitching "shouldn't we set it in Cornwall?" – and then wanting it filmed on the West Coast of Ireland.’

They were speaking at a session featuring comedy commissioners from across British broadcasters, where they all voiced a desire to co-operate and promote the best of the genre.

‘Ultimately, in comedy, a rising tide does lift all boats,’ said Channel 4’s Charlie Perkins  ‘There is plenty of doom and gloom – but I think everybody is sick of the doom. 

’It’s about celebrating the good things and I think that [approach] has had such an influence on all of us.

‘Look at the success of Saturday Night Live UK, a show that has got so much  money, power and marketing behind it. The sort of heft that Sky have got, it does help us, because that talent will have other ideas and they'll want to make shows [with other broadcasters].’

ITV’s Nana Hughes agreed, saying the show challenged the notion that ‘sketch is dead’ telling Moody: ‘I hope you’ve made my bosses go "should we be in sketch?"’

Petrie added that he was ‘really pleased that Saturday Night Live has done so well’ but added: ‘I don’t think the BBC could do something on that level, with the level of marketing [needed].’

Moody said of the SNL UK team: ‘What I'm really proud of them  for doing is making something so definitively, British. It’s clear that the more its voice becomes its own, the more success it's having. It’s not about aping a giant international franchise.’

Speaking about what they wanted to commission, the panel said they were looking for warm comedies with Moody saying the key was ‘closely observed characters that are loved by the creators, and characters that we recognise’ 

‘The legacy of Brassic was phenomenal on Sky,’ she said. ’It’s because there's a really engaged set of characters there that love each other, that always win, that you want to root for, that you feel like you can hang out with.  I'm certainly looking for the next one.’

And she said that a show that was loved by its audience was at least as important as the size of that audience, saying: ‘The depth of affection that audiences have for a show mitigates against whether it's for everybody.’

Hughes said she had a difficult job finding a comedy suitable for ITV’s mainstream audience. ‘ITV1 is tricky,’ she said, ‘as is BBC One but also BBC One has the pedigree.

‘I’ve got Changing Ends, which does really well for us, and is a big mainstream  show, but I don't get enough ideas [for other big shows]. They need to be accessible to a mainstream audience.

‘I have probably the toughest job of everyone here. We know we love Channel 4 and BBC.  Sky has the paywall, but also has the money. I don't have a ridiculous amount of money, but we will pay a decent amount for an ITV1 show, but I've also got to make sure that I'm getting a return on investment, and I've got to get those numbers.

‘Ultimately, I've got to keep it real, because it is about who's going to be in that show. Can we get some star casting, and can we raise the profile?’

But she denied that made ITV risk-averse.

She also spoke about Liverpool-set ITV2 comedy G’wed and how she tried to capture an authentic regional voice and ‘staying away from any stereotypes middle class people have.’

Petrie also spoke about how much more difficult it was to get a show into the public consciousness now, requiring more push on social media. 

‘You have to make way more content to be seen these days  and younger creators understand that,’ he said, while acknowledging  it may be harder for older comedians.

He cited  What Have You Done? – the YouTube spin-off from Lucia Keskin’s Things You Should Have Done – as an example of that. And he said Keskin’s move from a digital creator to BBC was symptomatic of the fact young comedians didn’t just want to stay on social media.  

‘I think it's remembering that younger people who are starting out in comedy, they still want TV shows,’ he said. ‘They might want to be on TikTok and stay on TikTok, and that's fine, but  Chi is a really good example of someone who wanted to have a TV show.’

Meanwhile Perkins said the industry should make more of how much longevity comedy as a genre.

She said: ‘We're all trying to prove the value of comedy, right?  Everyone's desperate to get things that work very quickly and quite splashy and quite big in the moment. We just all need to  show comedy is proven over a much longer timeframe.’

She said it was ‘the most enduring genre’ with The Inbetweeners still in Channel 4’s top ten streaming shows, almost 20 years after it launched.

The panel reiterated comments made at last year’s event urging producers to try to limit the number of characters and locations to make comedy more affordable, and not try to compete with the scope and production values of prestige drama, which often attracts international co-production funding that comedy cannot match.

• Pictured above, from left, are Moody, Perkins, Hughes and Petrie.

Published: 14 May 2026