Best Medicine event on the first anniversary of lockdown
A series of online events exploring the links between comedy and mental health is to be launched on the anniversary of the first lockdown.
Ruby Wax, Tim Key and Felicity Ward are among the comics taking part in the Best Medicine Festival, which aims to celebrate the way in which comedy can both destigmatise and raise awareness of mental health issues.
The festival kicks off on Tuesday March 23 with its keynote event: a panel discussion with comedians Ruby Wax, Kemah Bob, Ahir Shah, psychiatrist and comedian Dr Benji Waterhouse, comedian and Angel Comedy co-founder and psychotherapist Sarah Pearce, and chaired by Martin Willis.
New comedy execs and producers at Sky and the BBC
Sky and the BBC have both announced new appointments in their comedy commissioning and producing teams.
The BBC’s comedy department has appointed I May Destroy You producer Tanya Qureshi as a commissioning editor.
She will replace Alex Moody, who is leaving the BBC to join Sky in the same role this summer. Her commissions for the Corporation included Mackenzie Crook’s Worzel Gummidge, King Gary, Motherland, and Frankie Boyle’s New World Order.
Meanwhile, Sky has also appointed BBC producer Adnan Ahmed and Katie Churchill, from independent production company Tiger Aspect, to work on the programme-making side. Their remit includes identifying writing and performing talent and working to develop scripted comedies.
First photo from Buffering
Comedians Jessie Cave, Paul G Raymond, Rosa Robson and Janine Harouni have joined the cast of Iain Stirling’s semi-autobiographical new sitcom, Buffering.
ITV2 have today confirmed the comedy, loosely based on Stirling’s work as a children’s TV presenter, which Chortle first revealed in November 2019.
The broadcaster has also released the first photo from the show, above, in which Stirling’s character, also called Iain, is in a complicated relationship with a TV producer, played by Elena Saurel. Cave, Raymond, Robson and Harouni play his flatmates.
The comedian, who found wider fame as the voice of Love Island, wrote the six half-hour episodes with fellow stand-up Steve Bugeja. The show will be made by Avalon, whose management arm represents both comics.