UKTV & Female Pilot Club Unearth Top Comedy Scripts Featuring Women Over 45
UKTV and the Female Pilot Club have smashed it with a search for original comedy scripts starring female leads aged over 45. Out of a whopping 340 entries, four finalists have been picked to receive expert development support before a live reading with comedy heavyweights in the New Year.
The Finalists: Four Women, Four Winning Scripts
- Hayley Tamaddon – Best known for roles in Emmerdale and Coronation Street, plus winner of Dancing on Ice. A seasoned actress and writer, she’s thrilled to be part of this fresh comedy wave.
- Leigh Douglas – Actor, writer, and stand-up with credits in Dublin’s Theatre Upstairs and the Vault Festival. Her comedy short has screened internationally, and she’s also working on a debut novel.
- Nikki Patel – Started young on Coronation Street, with stage roles at The Old Vic and opposite Derek Jacobi in the West End. She’s diversifying into film and audio work, and her first script is a heartfelt tribute to her mum.
- Sydney Stevenson – Writer, actor, and director with a knack for comedy. Her award-winning plays and TV roles include Misfits and Red Dwarf. Her motto? “If in doubt, comedy it out.”
Female Pilot Club: Amplifying Women’s Comedy Voices
Since 2019, Female Pilot Club has been staging live readings of new comedy scripts featuring top British talent like Kerry Howard and Tracy-Ann Oberman. This is the Club’s first partnership with a major broadcaster, and it’s all about championing older women in comedy.
“Female Pilot Club exists to amplify brilliant female comedy voices and we’ve been proud to partner with UKTV on this groundbreaking initiative to find stories that foreground the lives of older women,” said Kay Stonham, award-winning writer and Club co-founder.
“We were amazed and pleased to receive over 340 submissions from talented writers across the UK.”
Fighting Industry Inequality, One Script at a Time
Female Pilot Club was founded by comedy legends Kay Stonham, Emily Chase, and Abigail Burdess to tackle the gender gap in TV and film writing. The 2018 Writers’ Guild report showed only 17% of UK comedy films had a female writer, and just 11% of TV sitcoms were female-written.
Lindsey Rost, Development Executive at UKTV, said:
“We’re thrilled to be working with these four brilliant female comedy writers. The strong submissions prove there’s plenty of female and diverse comedy talent out there. We can’t wait to showcase these fantastic scripts featuring female leads over 45 in the new year.”
