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Peep Show stars David Mitchell and Robert Webb have hit out at the current state of British sketch shows, saying that the genre has fallen into a “coma” in the past decade.
The pair, who starred in the award-winning series that ran between 2003 to 2015, will produce Channel 4’s first sketch show in more than a decade. They admitted they were “startled, amused and available” when they were asked to lead the untitled six-part series, which will air later this year.
Mitchell, who played loan manager Mark Corrigan in Peep Show, said that he hoped that the forthcoming sketch show would rescue the genre from abandonment.
Sitcoms have been a casualty of the the TV industry’s narrowing budget in recent years, and the Noughties are often seen as the golden years for popular sitcoms including The Catherine Tate Show and Little Britain.
Mitchell said that the genre has been neglected in recent years, but there is still hope to resuscitate it.
“It has been resting but there is still a beep on the machine so let’s hope it is ready to get up and eat a hearty meal,” he said. “It’s slightly odd that it stopped. The short amusing item that hopefully doesn’t outstay its welcome is quite a major part of TV comedy. It has continued on the internet in a low budget way but it has been abandoned by TV.”
He said the glaring generational divides that currently exist in society present an environment where comedy can flourish.
“People are more at odds with each other than at any time since the sixties,” he said, according to The Times.
“The different generations do not understand each other,” he continued. “And we live in changing times with an internet that is ruining everything. But like with all things that are fundamentally horrible there is a lot of humour to be found which is good for a sketch show to discuss.”
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Mitchell added that the success and growth of YouTube is proof that there is still demand for television of sorts.
He explained: “It’s harder than ever to get the money together to make high quality comedies and dramas. But people still want quality TV so there are reasons to be hopeful. We have got to keep making programmes that people want to see and even if they are watching them in two minute bursts online then it still counts.”
The pair’s previous project together, That Mitchell and Webb Look, ended in 2010 after four series on BBC Two, and won a Bafta for best comedy programme. The show saw the pair take on various characters, including detectives to maths quiz experts.
For the forthcoming release, the pair have promised an “innovative merging of comedy minds across generations”, with support actors and writers including the Ghosts star Kiell Smith-Bynoe.
Channel 4 has not aired a sketch series since 2014’s Cardinal Burns, which was co-created by Dustin Demri-Burns who has gone on to appear in Stath Lets Flats and Slow Horses.
Sharing the announcement, Charlie Perkins, the head of comedy for Channel 4, declared that the “sketch is back”.
“Sketch shows have historically been the bedrock of generations of comedy writers and performers – giving so many household names their first credits,” she said.
“In an era of purpose-heavy, high-production values, international-feeling dramas and comedy a lot of the very silliest stuff has got lost – and the lifeblood of TV with it.”
The announcement is part of a Channel 4 commissioning spree that includes a new drama, titled Tip Toe, from the It’s A Sin writer Russell T Davies.
