BBC2 have commissioned a three-part comedy-drama called STAG, from the producers of their surprise hit The Wrong Mans. The series will revolve around a stag night in Scotland, where the men involved are being murdered one by one.
George Kay and Jim Field-Smith are writing Stag, which is a joint production with their Idiotlamp Productions and BBC Comedy.
Kim Shillinglaw, BBC2 Controller:
[Comedy] needs to be taken as seriously as classical music at the BBC. When you make people laugh, you create a bit of love. It's a special thing. But it goes beyond that. It holds up a mirror, tells you something about the absurdity of British life. You see that with The Office, The Thick Of It and, in a slightly more parochial way, with W1A.Stag sounds like it will owe a debt to Agatha Christie's classic And Then There Was One, which has inspired countless murder-mysteries since. I'm also reminded of short-lived series Harper's Island, only with more laughs. It'll be interesting to see how this one shapes up, as I was a fan of The Wrong Mans own mix of comedy and drama.
That series is very much in our minds. The other day, I saw a poster telling me to be an 'idea-rator'. No, I've no idea what it means either. But I immediately took a photograph of it and sent it to Hugh Bonneville."
