BBC Studios has announced that two new writers will be joining its award winning Comedy and Entertainment Audio Productions team on two six month schemes to hone their skills and contribute to the growing slate of productions that already include the likes of Strong Message Here from Armando Iannucci for the BBC through to recent hits like The Big Pitch with Jimmy Carr for Netflix.
The scheme, which first started in 1978, will see Angela Channell and Adrian Gray joining this year. Angela will join the team for the first six months and is a writer-performer from Manchester. She wrote for The Daily Mash for five years, alongside completing the NFTS comedy diploma and writing on shows including Late Night Mash and Dead Ringers. Following on for the later six months will be Adrian who is a comedy writer whose chaotic and silly videos have earned him more than a million YouTube subscribers. He has also written for a range of TV and radio shows.
Their contract will see both writing on iconic BBC Radio 4 shows and popular BBC Sounds titles like The News Quiz, Dead Ringers and Evil Genius. They will also play a key part in the diverse range of panel shows, sketch formats, stand-up shows and podcasts made by the team as well as pitching original ideas for commercial audio platforms.
Angela Channell said: “BBC Studios gave me my first writing credit on Newsjack back in the heady days of lockdown, so landing this opportunity is beyond surreal. Like so many of us, I’ve been building my comedy career during commutes, long nights and behind reception desks of temp jobs. To now be an official, full-time comedy writer, within such a brilliant team, is the biggest privilege. I feel like the shiniest boiled egg in Britain.”
Adrian Gray said: “I'm beyond excited to be joining the BBC Studios team! It's an amazing opportunity to work on some of the best comedy shows around, and I'm super grateful that the BBC has put their faith in me to be funny on their behalf. 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. Maybe the real comedy will be the friends I make along the way?”
Adrian and Angela are the latest emerging writers to take on the role, following an illustrious group of alumni including Andy Wolton (writer of BBC Studios’ Trying for Apple TV), Tony Roche (Succession), Georgia Pritchett (Veep) and Kat Sadler (Such Brave Girls) to name a few. They all began their careers in staff writer roles, originally named the Radio Comedy Writers Bursary. Established in 1978, over the past 48 years the scheme has seen an incredible number of talented writers working across the entire spectrum of BBC Studios Audio comedy shows, with many going on to create and contribute to some of the biggest comedy shows in the world.
Richard Morris, Creative Director, BBC Studios Audio Comedy and Entertainment said: “We’re really excited to have two such talented people as Angela and Adrian join the team and become officially contracted to be the funniest people in our office this year. For us at BBC Studios, it is important to continue to seek out and champion new voices, so we are very much looking forward to seeing what the next six months will have in store for them both.”
