The British Comedy Guide has reported back from the Broadcast Comedy Forum 2010 with news that all of the major broadcasters are looking to develop new ideas for television after a long period of comedic drought on our tv screens which has seen many an artist we cover on these pages turn to the internet as a means of self-commission.

You can read the full report on the British Comedy Guide website – but a few notable points may have a bearing on what we here at The Velvet Onion may be reporting to you over the next few years.  First off, is the BBC’s renewed interest in making something different, with their executive Simon Wilson stating quite clearly BBC3 wanted to make ‘more unusual and different’ comedies after the success of adult puppet show Mongrels (featuring Tony Paul Way, Katy Brand and Lucy Montgomery) and referenced CGI-laden sketch show The Wrong Door (which featured Matt Berry) as an example of where they may be headed.

After several years of poor scheduling choices and no real support given to the likes of Snuffbox, Lifespam, meeBox and many more shows we could mention – perhaps we’ll be seeing a lot more of our favourite faces on the BBC once again soon?  After all, recent repeats of The Mighty Boosh at a more convenient time of 9pm (instead of the previous 10:30pm) caused it to reach the top Trending Topics on social networking site Twitter – proof if any was needed that the way forward may actually be the way back.

Channel 4 has also commissioned another two series of its Comedy Lab pilots in 2011 and 2012, and several of our key artists have previously been involved in such productions, most recently in the case of Julian Barratt appearing in Penelope: Princess Of Pets earlier this year.  On a similar note, freeview channel Dave is pleased with the success of its original productions and, as well as almost certainly making more Red Dwarf, they will also be looking towards broadcasting more short pilots in the hope of finding a new hit.  We at The Velvet Onion can only hope they decide to make more episodes of the mighty Zimbani!

This year has seen a number of pilots made involving members of the Booshniverse, and some of them have yet to find an audience – Oram & Meeten’s The Last Summer On Earth for example, or David Bussell’s Missing Scene for example.  With even Sky One reporting an interest in developing fresh comedic output, one can only hope we get to see something worth our while again very, very soon…