College of Comedy

The Stage reports that the BBC is establishing a new college of comedy in which six writers will be mentored by established comedy writers: Peep Show creators Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain, I'm Alan Partridge producer and writer Armando Iannucci, comedy duo David Mitchell and Robert Webb, and Men Behaving Badly creator Simon Nye.

Other established comedy writers set to take part in the project, which has been funded by BBC Worldwide, include Porridge creators Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, The League of Gentlemen's Jeremy Dyson and Ian Brown and James Hendrie, who have worked on five series of My Family.

Former BBC creative head of mainstream comedy Micheal Jacob is running the scheme and said: "We hope to find people who are going to make our team-written shows better, and also writers with original voices who can develop their own shows. We also hope that people will like the BBC enough to bring us their work in the future."

The BBC said the scheme is designed for people who "have already begun their careers, and can demonstrate some achievement", such as broadcast material, a script commission or performance of their work.

Applicants are now being invited to submit the first ten pages of a half-hour script, or six sketches by the closing date of April 14.

Twelve writers will be interviewed, and the successful six will be announced on May 16. They will then be matched with productions, and guaranteed a script commission.

Applicants should email their submission and a writing CV to CollegeofComedy@bbc.co.uk