News 2007

Top Scottish production company The Comedy Unit, part of the RDF Media Group, have secured a straight to network commission with six part sitcom Empty for BBC TWO. The show stars Rab C Nesbitt and Love Actually star Gregor Fisher and Billy Boyd of The Lord of the Rings fame. Fisher and Boyd play workmates Jacky and Tony, who clear and maintain houses in Glasgow for a property contractors.

Empty is set around the relationship between Jacky and Tony, two ordinary guys who have hit it off. Each episode will centre on the house they are clearing out, a haven which gives them the opportunity to go into their own world: a place of flights of fancy and comic imaginings sparked off by the items they find, or problems they encounter, in each new location. Poignant and funny, Empty explores comic possibilities in the most mundane situations.

The series is written by Robert Florence and Iain Connell who recently wrote Rose D’Or nominated sitcom Legit (BBC Scotland) for The Comedy Unit. The series is directed by Colin Gilbert and produced by Iain Davidson. The Executive Producer for The Comedy Unit is Rab Christie.

The series was commissioned by Roly Keating, Controller BBC TWO and Cheryl Taylor, Executive Editor Comedy.

For further details please contact:

Rachel Davidson
020 7013 4259
rachel.davidson@rdfmedia.com

Editor’s Notes

The Comedy Unit

The Comedy Unit was founded in 1996 and for the last decade has produced some of the best loved and highest rating programmes in Scotland as well as a range of shows for network and multi-channel including Rab C Nesbitt (BBC TWO), Still Game (BBC TWO) and Rose D’Or nominated sitcom Legit (BBC Scotland). The company consistently delivers high rating quality programmes to large audiences while simultaneously developing new performing and writing talent. The credentials of the Comedy Unit speak for themselves; 8 nominations for the Rose D'Or, 3 Royal Television Society awards, a range of BAFTAs and a host of accolades from many other industry bodies. In August 2006 the company was acquired as the comedy arm of the RDF Media Group.

The Comedy Unit have produced a range of extremely successful live comedy shows in recent years. At last year’s Glasgow International Comedy Festival they presented Off the Bawl with Tam Cowan and Stuart Cosgrove, Gary: Tank Commander, Calmantor 2: Judgement Day with Susan Calman, Super Sketch Me, Not So Rough Cuts and Karen Dunbar Live. They produce a monthly live night from Glasgow’s famous Stand Comedy club, Rough Cuts, at which the best new writing and talent for television is showcased. Rough Cuts has led to no fewer than three television commissions. In Autumn 2007 the Comedy Unit toured Scotland with Rikki & Me which completed a sell out tour of Scotland in 2006.

BAFTA nominated sketch show Blowout recently aired on Channel 4 as part of the Comedy Lab season. The Comedy Unit have also recently completed production of a broadcast pilot, Barely Legal for BBC Three. The company produce over 60 hours of radio a year for Radio Four, Radio Five Live and BBC Radio Scotland. Comedy Exterminating Angels was a Radio Four hit in May of this year and sitcom Fags, Mags and Bags, written by and starring Sanjeev Kohli and Donny McLeary, is currently airing on the station.