...as a load of other sitcoms confirmed to be returning

Radio 4 has commissioned a sitcom based on Paul Longley’s TikTok series The Gossip Couple.

In the web series the comic plays a husband who tittle-tattles to an unseen wife about their friends' questionable choices as they drive to or from a social engagement.

He has released 63 videos in the series, with the most popular attracting 2.2million views, helping him build an army of 147,000 followers on the platform. 

@mrpaullongley Can’t put it off any longer…  #gossip #couple #series #textmaebh #funnyvideos #coworker #sketch #ukcomedy ♬ original sound - PaulLongley

Longley will also star in the Radio 4 series, which is being made by Gobby Girl and Tillervision Productions.

The broadcaster has also today announced that its sitcoms Rum Punch, Do Gooders, Icklewick FM and Whatever Happened To Baby Jane Austen will be returning. 

Created by stand-up Travis Jay, Rum Punch is about a family running a Caribbean restaurant and also features Eddie Nestor, Kevin Garry, Maureen Hibbert and others. This will be its second series. 

Do Gooders, which has run for two series already, is a workplace sitcom set in the charity industry, starring its writer Garrett Millerick alongside Frank Skinner, Ahir Shah, Ania Magliano and Fay Ripley.

Icklewick FM, which will also be entering its third series, is set in a community radio station that’s  a magnet for oddballs. It stars creators Amy Gledhill and Chris Cantrill alongside Colin Hoult, Mark Silcox, Lucy Beaumont and more.

Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders star in Whatever Happened To Baby Jane Austen, which is returning for a fourth series, written by David Quantick. French plays the literary novelist Florence Ransom and Saunders her sister Selina Mountjoy, a movie star and glamorous celebrity.

News of these shows comes as Radio 4 announces a batch of comedy programming today, including Richard Curtis’s first sitcom in more than 30 years,  a raft of stand-up specials, a new batch of sketch shows and new pilots from Nish Kumar and Jake Bhardwaj.

Published: 16 Sep 2026