A comedy writer has published a scathing criticism of how BBC Scotland commissions comedy, claiming he was told to send a script to BBC2 because English audiences are more "comfortable" with intelligent comedy.
Writer Colin Edwards, who has penned shows The Franz Kafka Big Band and The Atrocity Machine for BBC Radio Scotland and Channel 4 Radio, said he was urged to pitch a script to the BBC in London after initially being told it was "too intellectual for television".
Mr Edwards has described his experience in a lengthy online blog.
His script, he says, referenced Socrates and Plato, the classical philosophers.
He adds: "So I arrive at Pacific Quay where I am told that they want to pitch my sitcom to BBC 2 network down in London.
"'Cool!' I said, although being under fewer illusions now as having the script commissioned by BBC 2 was an even longer shot than getting picked up by BBC Scotland. 'But I thought you said my script was too intellectual for television?'"
A BBC staff member said, he writes: "'Oh, that was only in regards to BBC Scotland and Ewan Angus [commissioning editor]. This time we want to pitch it to BBC 2 in London because English people are more, shall we say… “comfortable” with intelligent comedy. They feel less threatened by it.'"
Last night Ewan Angus responded and said: "BBC Scotland is open-minded in its approach to considering, commissioning and producing comedy shows.
"A snapshot of programmes produced from BBC Scotland illustrates this – from Still Game, Bob Servant Independent, Gary: Tank Commander, Jack Docherty’s Stop/Start, Scot Squad to Two Doors Down on television and Breaking the News on radio. "We cannot commission every script idea we receive and eventually it comes down to a judgement call on what we believe would work best for our audiences.
"It’s nonsense to suggest that we would dismiss an idea on the grounds it was ‘too intellectual.’
"I certainly would not have rejected a script idea simply because it referenced Socrates – he was one of the finest midfielders Brazil ever produced."
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