BBC Comedy commission Sticks
Tue, Jan 26th 2010, 13:54
So it’s a new year and a new decade. We’ve just finished our new short film The Moon Bird and here we are twiddling our thumbs with nothing to do. Er… or not.
Among the projects we have on the go is one we created from scratch ourselves. We’re producing a short series for BBC Comedy Extra called Sticks.
Sticks first came about a couple of years ago when Greg (the illustrator-animator half of The Brothers McLeod) drew some characters on the coffee stirrers our Dad supplies at Ripplecups.com.
We had the idea of trying to do some ad lib stuff using the sticks as puppets. We recorded a bunch of off-the-cuff sketches onto our naff video camera and tried to make each other laugh. A lot of it was incomprehensible, but some funny characters did emerge. Our favourites were a collection of bungling Cockney coppers and some ridiculous French private detectives.
So last year we put together a proposal for some scripted episodes, featuring the policemen, and sent them off to Martin Trickey and Simon Lupton at BBC Comedy. They were good enough to press the big red GO button and now we’re in production. We’ll be blogging about the production process so watch out for more.
There are already three existing Sticks animations that show the potential for this kind of animation. They feature a man whose house is set on fire, some ghostly cowboys and a tragic bear. You can watch them here:
Why can’t anyone do they’re job properly? That’s what Plank wants to know. He’s tough as teak and has a fiery temper that could start a forest fire. Plank is a classic bossy boots who is surrounded by incompetents, the clueless and the downright sneaky. Plank doesn’t trust anyone, possibly not even himself. Maybe it’s the years of fighting criminals or perhaps just in his grain, but Plank is more paranoid that a Coke addict in a hall of mirrors.
Always seeking the easy route out, Sergeant Constable is as cunning as he is lazy. The Sergeant is the kind of copper who can work things out astutely if he puts his mind to a case. He probably could have been Commissioner by now, but the truth is he’d rather put his feet up and tuck into a pasty.
Bless him, he’s as green as oak and thick as two short sticks. Constable wants to shine but somehow he always ends up as the stick in the mud.
Constable Witch isn’t a very good police officer and isn’t a very good witch either. Her police methods are rather unorthodox and often go badly wrong.
Always trying to escape, but somehow always ends up back in the clink.
The civilian desk assistant. Fancies herself as the new Agatha Christie with her stories of Miss Marble.
The Zut Alors! Private Investigation agency is home to two outrageous Frenchies. Monsieur wants all the world to know he is both stylish and brave. One out of two’s not bad.
Derriere knows he is a genius of the investigative sciences. He has a certificate bought off the internet to prove it.
