A JOYLESS ARMY KILLING COMEDY
No fresh sitcoms this year for ITV Axe letter hits CBBC
TOP comedy writers have accused ITV of killing off sitcoms in favour of bleak dramas.
Channel exec Kevin Lygo has urged viewers in search of a laugh to tune in to Coronation Street.
And Porridge actor Kevin Bishop, who starred as Fletcher in the remake, has launched an astonishing attack as ITV is without a sitcom this year for the first time in its 64-year history.
He reckons channel bosses only want to spend money on depressing drama. Kevin said: “ITV not making sitcoms? I might as well hang up my boots now.
“What sort of hell are we creating for our children?
“I’ve never laughed at a soap. Even Crossroads.
“I was going to write a funny sitcom and pitch it to ITV but I’d better write a dark drama instead about a child that goes missing or a terrorist plot or a prostitution ring.
“That’s what the public want. Comedy is dead.”
Benidorm creator Derren Litten saw his show axed last year after 11 awardwinning years on ITV.
He said: “No more scripted comedy on ITV.”
The channel was “unashamedly trying to lighten the mood a bit with joyously warm-bath television” such as detectives Vera and Endeavour, he warned.
Derren added: “I must say an ITV murder or two certainly gives me a warm feeling.”
EastEnders veteran Rudolph Walker, 79, hit out at snowflakes for killing off classic comedies.
The actor, from 70s sitcom Love Thy Neighbour, said: “What I find sad about today is that we have become too politically correct.
“(The shows) were for pure entertainment – full stop! It is light-hearted.” BLAST: Kevin Bishop SAD: Rudolph Walker THE BBC has been engulfed in a race row over one of its children’s shows.
Sitcom Living With The Lams, about a Chinese family running a Manchester restaurant, has been slammed for “regressively radicalised stereotypes”.
It is said to use a “mish-mash” of Chinese accents and features an episode about the “stinkiness” of Chinese food.
Critics also claim plans for the show referred to the characters as “oriental” – which is now considered outdated.
More than 50 British East Asian directors, writers and actors have written a letter to CBBC boss Cheryl Taylor calling for it to be axed.