91Èȱ¬

91Èȱ¬ Productions announced last night that its successful College of Comedy, a scheme for up and coming comedy writers, will be returning for another year.

The six successful applicants from last year's intake have, for the last 12 months, been attached to an existing 91Èȱ¬ project and have been mentored by well-known comedy writers to create original work.

Following the success of the 91Èȱ¬'s Writers Academy, the scheme is a fantastic initiative by the 91Èȱ¬ to discover brand new comedy talent, and give those people the chance to work with some of the best comedy writers in the business.

Like last year, some of Britain's top comedy writers will be mentoring and working alongside the students. Among those endorsing the scheme are Hugo Blick, Susan Nickson, Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong and Armando Iannucci.

Over the past year the six students – Catherine Shepherd; Leah Chillery; Rob and Neil Gibbons (Twin duo); Morgan Lloyd Malcolm, Verity Rose Woolnough, Katie Lyons (Trippplicate); Andrew Viner and John Warburton – have been working across a variety of channels on both TV and radio as part of the programme.

These include: a comedy sitcom for 91Èȱ¬ Three, Ebony's Yard, 91Èȱ¬ Two's brand new comedy Psychoville from the two writers of The League of Gentlemen (Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton), Concrete Cow on 91Èȱ¬ Radio 4, Bear Behaving Badly for C91Èȱ¬ and Comedy North show Scallywagga for 91Èȱ¬ Three.

The writers have also been developing their own original material. Last night, in a culmination of their year's work, the six scripts were performed in a comedy showcase at the 91Èȱ¬ in front of an audience made up of comedy producers, directors, writers and agents.

For the second year the scheme is being run by Micheal Jacob, Creative Head College of Comedy, formerly the 91Èȱ¬'s Creative Head Mainstream Comedy and executive producer of My Family, Two Pints Of Larger And A Packet Of Crisps and The Smoking Room.

Micheal comments: "It has been really exciting to see these very talented writers develop over the year, and to showcase some excellent work in progress. When we launched the scheme I said I hoped to be the Arsene Wenger of comedy – they have made me feel like I am. I’m sure next year will be just as rewarding, and it’s great to be able to do it again."

The scheme is the brainchild of 91Èȱ¬'s Head of Comedy, Mark Freeland.

Mark added: "I'm really excited that the College of Comedy is returning for a second year. Our aim is to find more writers from across the UK, delivering new and diverse voices into the comedy industry."

Submissions should be sent to CollegeofComedy@bbc.co.uk, which will be acknowledged by email.

If candidates have not heard from the college by 18 May 2009, then they will not have been shortlisted. It will not be possible to enter into correspondence in relation to individual entries.

Notes to Editors

The scheme is open to writers of half-hour narrative comedy, and to sketch writers.

Applicants should live in the United Kingdom or the Republic of Ireland.

Applicants will have had their work broadcast; had work commissioned for development by a broadcaster or production company; or had their work performed professionally, either as a writer or a writer/performer.

Only one entry per applicant will be considered, and the deadline for submissions is 12noon on 24 Apri 2009l.

A short-list of no more than 12 writers will be invited for interview in the week of 25 May.

Applicants will be notified as to whether or not they have been successful by the end of the week.

The successful writers will attend a residential workshop in the course of the programme, be attached to a production (with expenses paid), and be mentored in the development of an original script, which will be showcased at the end of the scheme, and for which a fee will be paid.

As a condition of the scheme, original work by the writers must be submitted to the 91Èȱ¬ under a "first-look" deal, which will run for 12 months from the scheme's end in April 2010.

The 91Èȱ¬ undertakes to decide within three months of submission whether or not it wishes to commission the work.

Other 91Èȱ¬ Initiatives – The Writers Academy

From May 2009 the 91Èȱ¬ Writers Academy will return for its fifth year. The successful scheme, founded by 91Èȱ¬'s Controller of Drama, John Yorke, is a chance to discover brand new writing talent, as well as giving those applicants the chance to work with some of the best writers in the business.

The course consists of three months' classroom work followed by nine months writing scripts for Doctors, Casualty, Holby City and EastEnders.

Lecturers on the course include John Yorke, Jimmy McGovern, Tony Jordan and Russell T Davies.

To date there have been over 90% success rate of writers being taken on to work at the 91Èȱ¬ and others going on to work on other shows such as Shameless.

Applicants can apply from May via Media Guardian and Broadcast for this year's course beginning September 2009.

CS