In May, the BBC\u2019s director of comedy Jon Petrie seemed to confirm this. Talking to producers, he cited last year\u2019s Radio Times Screen Test<\/strong><\/a> survey showing that comedy increases viewers\u2019 happiness levels. \u201cAudiences are telling us they want a laugh to combat the gloom,\u201d he said. And to serve that, he made a plea \u2013 \u201cSend us fewer shows that are \u2018an exploration\u2019 of something and more that know where their funny bones are.\u201d<\/p>\n Does he think the sitcom is, if not dead, then in grave peril? \u201cMainstream sitcom is hard,\u201d he explains when we catch up with him again. \u201cIt\u2019s a lot of pressure to make ten million people laugh. It needs a consistent joke level, clear comic characters and big set-pieces but no convoluted plot \u2013 so much of the humour in a great sitcom comes from character. We feel that we\u2019ve skewed too much into comedy drama recently. It\u2019s time to push back.\u201d<\/p>\n Channel 4\u2019s head of comedy Charlie Perkins agrees. She\u2019s looking for \u201ca long-running sitcom, an ensemble show with gangs of characters like Ghosts<\/a>\u201d. So if there\u2019s so much demand from channel bosses, why aren\u2019t we in a golden era of sitcoms?<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s definitely a big audience,\u201d says comedian Lee Mack \u2013 and he should know. His sitcom Not Going Out<\/a> is the second longest-running in British TV history (after Last of the Summer Wine), and it\u2019s been commissioned for a 14th season. \u201cBut there aren\u2019t younger comics coming through wanting to write them. You can have a whole debate about why. I think part of it might be class-based.\u201d<\/p>\n Nerys Evans agrees. She\u2019s the creative director at Expectation, producer of returning BBC sitcom Alma\u2019s Not Normal (and commissioned Derry Girls<\/a> at Channel 4). \u201cMost of the huge studio sitcoms had working-class writers like Victoria Wood and John Sullivan,\u201d she argues. \u201cThere are so few working-class people in telly \u2013 and a lot of middle-class writers are horrified to have their comedy described as broad. Tom Basden really resisted writing a family sitcom when he created Here We Go. It started as a mockumentary, and he was coaxed into the sitcom format in development.\u201d<\/p>\n RT<\/strong> has spoken to comedy producers and found, on the one hand, an abiding love of the sitcom. \u201cThere\u2019s such pleasure in watching for joy, not jeopardy,\u201d says Hannah Farrell, creative director at Fable Pictures, the company behind Lucy Beaumont\u2019s comedy Hullraisers. \u201cSitcoms don\u2019t often present any real life and death stakes in their stories of the week \u2013 which means we can relax and just enjoy the purely ridiculous situations. Sitcom characters become people we want to hang out with \u2013 like meeting a mate for a cosy pint after work and having a laugh. They make us feel better about the world.\u201d<\/p>\n But certain themes keep coming up. Perhaps the biggest (after near-universal admiration for the recently concluded Ghosts) is that launching new comedy is a risk. \u201cIf you\u2019re setting out to say this is funny, and people don\u2019t agree, they\u2019re offended,\u201d says Neil Webster, whose father-son sitcom Only Child launches on BBC One in the near future. \u201cYou can\u2019t predict what will be successful \u2013 you can have the best writers, best performers and best idea, but the moment you launch, people are thinking, \u2018I\u2019ll see about that.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Some producers also note that broadcasters want big talent from the outset, meaning growing new talent is harder. There\u2019s a demand for new voices and YouTube can help \u2013 This Country and People Just Do Nothing both started there \u2013 but passionate, authored sitcoms may not produce long-running hits.<\/p>\n \u201cThe problem is authored stories can be told often in two or three series, then the writer moves on,\u201d says Josh Cole, head of comedy for BBC Studios, producer of Apple TV+\u2019s Trying and Amazon\u2019s Good Omens<\/a>.<\/p>\n Evans agrees. \u201cWe need to develop longer-running shows with ensemble casts and a writers\u2019 room so that the writer doesn\u2019t get exhausted,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n For Mack, this is key. \u201cWhen I was writing the first series of Not Going Out, I looked at American sitcoms,\u201d he recalls. \u201cThe difference was the rate of gags. UK producers have a joke on every page. In America they slave over every line. On average ten per cent of a US sitcom budget goes on the writers, whereas in Britain about five per cent of the money goes on writers. Writers are twice as important there.\u201d<\/p>\n Everyone RT<\/strong> spoke to also pointed out that there\u2019s less money around, and that compared with other programming, comedy is an expensive risk as it takes time to develop. Sophie Willan, for instance, took 18 months to write her Alma\u2019s Not Normal pilot \u2013 and she later won two BAFTAs. Stath Lets Flats, meanwhile (which won four), went through four pilot scripts, two read-throughs, a Comedy Blap (a short showcase slot) and a taster episode.<\/p>\n![\"Alma's](\"https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2021\/12\/almas-not-normal-5f96224.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C407\" "\\"Alma's")
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