Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

UKTV WriterSlam finalists announced

08/12/2021

Dead Canny, Holier Than Thou, Perfect (W/T) and The Other Half for UKTV

Tuesday 7 December 2021 Following the initiative announcement earlier this year, UKTV and TriForce Creative Network today announce the four finalists of the UKTV WriterSlam competition for UKTVs award-winning entertainment channel Dave. As part of UKTVs commitment to shining a spotlight on diverse and emerging talent, the four single episodes (4x30) include Dead Canny written by Anna Costello, Holier Than Thou written by Misha Adesanya, Perfect (W/T) written by Laurence Clark, and The Other Half written by Kate Reid and Zak Ghazi-Torbati.

Sarah Asante, commissioning editor, comedy said:

I was delighted to join the UKTV scripted comedy team just as they had launched a search for emerging diverse writers. The added commitment from the Dave team by offering the initiative a transmission target set the bar really high for our search. We have proudly developed shows that organically span the nations and regions, showcasing the breadth of storytelling from across the UK. This initiative has demystified the script to screen process in a unique way and has nurtured enormous growth in confidence and vision from the writers, which has been a pleasure to witness. Its been heartening for us at UKTV to see what can happen when we invite new writers to share their dreams and talents with us and the wider industry. I also want to thank our impressive production partners for taking this leap and going on this journey with us.

Each writer will be partnered with a production company to create the single episode for UKTV and filming will start in the new year, with casting underway for diverse and underrepresented talent.

Dead Canny (Anna Costello) will be produced by TriForce Productions with Fraser Ayres as executive producer and Jon Macqueen as producer. It follows a questionable young psychic from Consett, Co. Durham, whose ability to see dead people not only earns her a few quid cash-in-hand down the local pub, but also lands her as the prime suspect in a murder investigation.

Holier Than Thou (Misha Adesanya) will be produced by Big Deal and executive produced by Thomas Stogdon (Dreaming Whilst Black). Set in contemporary Manchester, it follows the journey of three young adults as they navigate sex, faith, and relationships, while attending the conservative, African Evangelical church they were raised in.

Perfect (W/T) (Laurence Clark) will be produced by Happy Tramp North and executive produced by Neil Webster. Set in Liverpool, three young disabled people become unexpected friends when they meet on a half-cocked and pointless work preparation scheme. Together they navigate life, dating, and a system that seems designed to only benefit the people who run it.

The Other Half (Kate Reid and Zak Ghazi-Torbati) will be produced by Ranga Bee Productions with Romesh Ranganathan, Benjamin Green and Michelle Farr-Scott as executive producers. It follows 20-something Navid who is half-Welsh, half-Iranian and 100% that bitch, who gets the chance to escape his small Welsh town when he lands an internship in the big city: Bristol. But as he runs headlong into his new life, shacking up with his best friend and her painfully privileged family, hes also running away from his old life in the closet, living with his overprotective father. And the more he tries to keep the two halves of his life apart, the more they keep crashing into each other.

The series of episodes have been written as part of the UKTV WriterSlam, with TriForce Creative Network and Dandi.org.uk. The scripts are commissioned by Sarah Asante, UKTV commissioning editor, comedy and ordered by Dave channel director, Cherie Cunningham and Pete Thornton, UKTVs head of scripted. Richard Watsham is the UKTVs director of commissioning and Steve North is genre general manager, comedy and entertainment.

_

For more information please contact:

Gem Pinkney, Head of Consumer Comms

Notes to Editors:

In winter 2020, BBC Studios increased its commitment to discovering, developing and supporting diverse talent in its production teams by launching the BBC Studios Production Inclusion Rider ,which introduced targets for new commissions requiring a minimum 20% of on-screen talent to be from a Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic background, have a lived experience of a disability, identify as LGBTQ+ or be from a low-income background. It also launched its Assistant Producer Accelerator Programme offering fourteen one-year contracts to researchers wanting to become Assistant Producers by providing them with the knowledge, skills and experience they need to develop, encouraging applications from underrepresented groups including those with a disability, those from ethnic minorities, lower income groups and the LGBTQ+ community.

About UKTV

UKTV has been at the forefront of branded television for over 25 years, entertaining the nation with programmes they love. Its leading brands - Dave, Gold, W, Drama, Alibi, Eden and Yesterday - span comedy, entertainment, natural history, factual and drama, and are delivered to audiences through UKTV Play, Freeview, Sky, Virgin Media, BT, TalkTalk, YouView, Freesat and Amazon Fire. The broadcaster is a significant investor in British creativity and is committed to working with new and established writers, directors and programme-makers.

UKTV is part of BBC Studios, the UKs most-awarded production company, a world-class distributor with international branded services, and a commercial subsidiary of the worlds leading public service broadcaster, the BBC.
LINK: https://corporate.uktv.co.uk/news/article/uktv-writerslam-finalists-an...
See more stories from uktv

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

06/09/2026

Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA World Cup 2026 in Germany with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos

June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...

04/08/2026

Dalet Announces Commercial Availability of Dalia, Bringing Media-Aware Agentic AI to Enterprise Productions

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

04/07/2026

Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in Dolby Cinemas Across Japan, Presented in Dolby Atmos and Dolby ...

April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...

26/06/2026

SVG GameDay, Ep. 21: Minnesota Vikings Allan Wertheimer - Large-Scale Shows in Minny

In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...

26/06/2026

Strike Fighter League Announces Second Online Tournament, Set for July 25 in Las Vegas

Strike Fighter League (SFL), a professional air combat digital sport combining f...

26/06/2026

InfoComm 2026: Wisycom Announces MPR60 Firmware Update, MATF Antenna Matrix, and PFL RFoF Box

Wisycom has announced three new additions to its professional wireless ecosystem...

26/06/2026

Eurovision Services Inaugurates Expanded Master Control Room in Madrid

Eurovision Services inaugurated an expanded Master Control Room (MCR) in Madrid on June 1, 2026, building on a broadcast hub the company has operated in the cit...

26/06/2026

Midco Sports and University of North Dakota Renew Broadcast and Sponsorship Partnership

Midco Sports and the University of North Dakota (UND) have announced a two-year ...

26/06/2026

G&D and VuWall Appoint Vutec as Exclusive South Africa Distributor

Guntermann and Drunck (G&D) and VuWall, both part of the Panoptec Technologies Group, have appointed Vutec (Pty) Ltd as exclusive distributor for their KVM and ...

26/06/2026

Visit Seattle Launches Drone Scoreboard at Space Needle for FIFA World Cup 2026

Visit Seattle, the official destination marketing organization for Seattle and King County, has launched what it describes as the world's first drone scoreb...

26/06/2026

CP Communications Provides RF and Wireless Support for 2026 NBA Draft at Barclays Center

CP Communications provided RF video, audio, and crew communications support for ...

26/06/2026

Reimagined MoonPay X Games League Kicks Off With Three-Day Event in Sacramento

Produced by longtime partner Echo Entertainment, the action-sports property is now a team-based year-round league The inaugural season of the MoonPay X Games L...

26/06/2026

MultiDyne Acquires MRMC, Expands into Camera Robotics and Motion Control

The deal establishes MultiDyne Robotics and Motion Control, maintaining the well-known MRMC brand.MultiDyne Video & Fiber Optic Systems has acquired the assets ...

26/06/2026

TNT Sports Heads Into Year 2 of NASCAR Return With New NEP Truck, Expanded In-Car Experience

PX1 will debut at Sonoma as TNT leans into super-slo-mo, drones, SMT data integr...

26/06/2026

Ratings Roundup: USMNT-Australia Draws 23M Viewers; Mexico-South Korea Is Most-Watched Spanish-Language Soccer Match Ever

Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press rel...

26/06/2026

David Kuckhermann brings calabash to Celemony Tonalic

Virtual session musician plug-in gains new percussion options Celemony's latest update for their virtual session musician platform complements the exist...

26/06/2026

Softube unveil the Console 1 Compact

Half-size model joins Console 1 line-up Shortly after the release of their new Flow Studio controller, Softube have announced the launch of another new surf...

26/06/2026

ELT Group and Rohde & Schwarz sign a cooperation agreement to explore commercial opportunities in electromagnetic warfare and defense

ELT Group and Rohde & Schwarz sign a cooperation agreement to explore commercial...

26/06/2026

Lightware Powers Teddy Swims UK And Europe Tour With Adva...

For Teddy Swims sold-out I've Tried Everything But Therapy tour, event technology specialists, PRG, provided video, automation and lighting across 19 date...

26/06/2026

Taurus TPN powers AV workflows at NurnbergMesse

Modern exhibition and event venues face the challenge of seamlessly integrating traditional conference technology, professional broadcast workflows and IP-based...

26/06/2026

FCC Adopts New Cybersecurity Requirements for Alerting Systems

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

26/06/2026

Study: Roku Most Used But Not Highest Rated Streaming Platform

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

26/06/2026

Samsung Ads Announces First Shoppable CTV Partners

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

26/06/2026

Gray Media Names Annie Cordell General Manager of WMBF

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

26/06/2026

Neko Oji: The Guy That Got Reincarnated as a Cat Edited with DaVinci Resolve Studio

Neko Oji: The Guy That Got Reincarnated as a Cat Edited with DaVinci Resolve Stu...

26/06/2026

Adobe to Acquire Topaz Labs

Adobe to Acquire Topaz Labs Brie Clayton June 25, 2026 0 Comments Adobe has seen strong demand for its AI products for creatives, including Adobe Fire...

26/06/2026

Berklee Students Earn Dedicated Section at Raindance Film Festival in London

Berklee Students Earn Dedicated Section at Raindance Film Festival in London Five documentary short films produced in the Africana Studies Department screen a...

26/06/2026

Automating post-production workflows with Baselight, Daylight, Nara & FilmLight API. New York. 8 July 2026

Catch up on the latest developments across Baselight and Daylight v7, Nara and F...

26/06/2026

DFT installs second Polar HQ at China News Film Confirming Position as China's Leading 8K Film Preservation Partner

26. June 2026 News DFT is pleased to announce that a second Polar HQ film s...

26/06/2026

New documentary Freedom Founder: Thomas McKean and the American Revolution comes to RT

New documentary Freedom Founder: Thomas McKean and the American Revolution airs ...

25/06/2026

Launching a Career in Broadcast Engineering: Academic Paths and Essential Certifications

Launching a Career in Broadcast Engineering: Academic Paths and Essential Certif...

25/06/2026

SVG Students To Watch: Jude Kieffer, Ball State University

This superstar shooter/storyteller from Central Indiana hopes to make his mark in the blossoming sports-documentary and -features space In the live-sports-vid...

25/06/2026

Presidio and NHL Renew Multiyear North American Technology Partnership

Presidio and the National Hockey League have announced a multiyear renewal of their North American partnership. Presidio will remain an Official Technology Inno...

25/06/2026

Strike Fighter League Hits the Industry as First Professional Air Combat Sport

Strike Fighter League (SFL) is the world's first professional air combat digital sport that combines elite human performance and physical immersion with cut...

25/06/2026

Rise Reveals 2026 Worldwide Mentoring Cohorts to Support Future Industry Leaders

Rise, the award-winning advocacy group for gender diversity in the broadcast and media technology sector, is pleased to announce the global mentoring cohort for...

25/06/2026

MLB Network To Air American Association of Professional Baseball All-Star Game for First Time on July 15

The 2026 American Association of Professional Baseball (AAPB) All-Star Game will...

25/06/2026

Mediaproxy Partners with HVS for U.S. Broadcast Market

Mediaproxy has named Heartland Video Systems (HVS) as its exclusive partner for US television broadcasting. The Wisconsin-based systems integrator will represen...

25/06/2026

Backblaze Inks Five-Year Multi-Exabyte Data Storage Agreement with CoreWeave

Backblaze has formed an agreement with CoreWeave to create The Essential Cloud for AI. Under the multi-exabyte, $335 million agreement, Backblaze will provide...

25/06/2026

Clear-Com FreeSpeak Cell Tested by RTL Deutschland on 5G Network at Nrburgring

Clear-Com has announced the successful deployment and testing of FreeSpeak Cell by RTL Deutschland during a live event production at the N rburgring race circui...

25/06/2026

Mobile TV Group Launches Full-Stack MTVG Production Platform, Powers Angels Broadcast Television

Mobile TV Group (MTVG) has announced the launch of the MTVG Production Platform,...

25/06/2026

Sony Pictures Entertainment Announces $100 Million Investment in Cosm

Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) has announced a $100 million strategic investment in Cosm as lead investor in the company's Series C financing round, acqu...

25/06/2026

FOX Sports Renews Concacaf Gold Cup Rights and Adds Nations League Through 2029

FOX Sports and Concacaf have announced a multi-year media rights agreement making FOX Sports the U.S. English-language home of the Concacaf Gold Cup and Concaca...

25/06/2026

InfoComm 2026: Daktronics and Grass Valley Win rAVe Pubs Best Solution for Large Venue or Live Events

Daktronics and Grass Valley have received the rAVe Pubs Best Solution for Large ...

25/06/2026

Music Production for Women announce Soundlab 2026

Six free workshops across two days Global music education platform Music Production for Women (MPW), have just announced a brand new and highly anticipated ...

25/06/2026

CIOKS launch the DC7 v2

Popular pedalboard PSU gets an upgrade The DC7 v2 is a new and improved version of CIOKS' renowned effects pedal PSU, and is said to be the thinnest, mo...

25/06/2026

Rev Ocean reverb from Arturia

Optimised for lush, enveloping sounds Described as an instantly rewarding reverb , the latest addition to Arturia's range of creative effects plug-ins ...

25/06/2026

Just 48 hours until GearExpo UK!

27 June 2026, Westminster University Harrow Campus GearExpo UK is now upon us, with just two days to go until 150 of the worlds top pro-audio brands and ind...

25/06/2026

The Name You Know, The Lineup You'll Love - SBS2 Returns

The Name You Know, The Lineup You'll Love - SBS2 Returns 25 June, 2026 Media releases SBS Viceland rebrands as SBS2 on Friday 21 August, bringing the c...

25/06/2026

Sports and Dramas Drive April Viewing Patterns in Nielsen's Latest Gauge Reports

Cable Gains Share for Second Consecutive Month in Six-Month-High Finish, Boosted...