BBC Radio 4 to air comedy pilot series

BBC Radio 4 has announced plans to broadcast a series of comedy pilots showcasing new talent from around the UK.

Titled Happy Tuesdays, the series will premiere on July 20 at 11pm and then run for five consecutive weeks.

The comedy pilots will feature the writing talents of Renton Skinner, Justin Moorhouse, Jim Poyser, Will Smith, Beth Chalmers, Amy Shindler and others.

The most promising pilots will stand the chance of being developed into regular programmes on the BBC's radio or television networks.

Kicking off the series will be Renton Skinner's Angelos Epithemious's Real Lives, in which an ex-burger van owner examines environmental issues with two invited experts. The programme stars Renton Skinner, along with Katy Wix, Katherine Jakeways, Rufus Jones and Tom Verrall.

Happy Tuesdays follows the successful Happy Mondays series, which ran on Radio 4 in 2008 and provided a platform for the writing talents of Jon Culshaw, Stephen K Amos and Rhys Thomas.

The Happy Mondays series also resulted in comedy pilots The Odd Half Hour and The Secret World being commissioned on Radio 4.