Six titles score third series while Two Doors Down returns after three-year break

The BBC has ordered third series of six major comedies, as well as an eighth series of Scottish sitcom Two Doors Down after a three-year hiatus.

Following its Bafta-winning performance, Merman’s Amandaland will go for a third run, alongside Boffola Pictures Am I Being Unreasonable, Black Ops and Mammoth (both BBC Studios), Such Brave Girls (VAL/A24) and Things You Should Have Done (Roughcut).

Series two of Amandaland launched earlier this month with 1.4m (13.4%) viewers overnight, before its debut run took home the best scripted comedy gong at the Bafta TV Awards. The Motherland spin-off follows Lucy Punch’s Amanda as she navigates mum life in Harlesden.

The 6 x 30-minute third series is co-written by Holly Walsh and Laurence Rickard, co-created by Walsh, Sharon Horgan, Helen Serafinowicz and Barunka O’Shaughnessy. The exec producers for Merman are Horgan, Walsh, Serafinowicz, Rickard and Faye Dorn. The commissioning editor is Seb Barwell.

Written by and starring Daisy May Cooper and Selin Hizli as chaotic friends, the Am I Being Unreasonable will return for a third and final 6 x 30-minute run.

Cooper and Hizli said: “There’s a lot to say in this series – some of which we probably shouldn’t – but we’re hoping to end on a high. Even if some of our characters might not.”

The producer is Ali Marlow, the director is Emily McDonald, and the exec producers are Shane Allen, Cooper and Hizli. The commissioning editors for the BBC are Emma Lawson and Roya Eslami.

The series will premiere on Hulu in the USA, SBS in Australia and TVNZ in New Zealand.

Gbemisola Ikumelo and Hammed Animashaun will reprise their roles as community support officers Black Ops (6 x 30 minutes), this time handed their first MI5 undercover mission.

Animashaun and Ikumelo landed 2024 Baftas for best comedy performance male and female, respectively.

The series is co-produced with Mondo Deluxe, Cool Story, and Swagbag Productions, and is created by Ikumelo, Akemnji Ndifornyen, Joe Tucker and Lloyd Woolf. The exec producer is Josh Cole and the commissioning editors are Seb Barwell and Rhianna Adams-Christie.

Petrie said: “Black Ops has picked up critical acclaim, awards and a very loyal army of fans. Dom and Kay’s chaotic brilliance has clearly struck a chord, and Gbemisola, Akemnji, Joe and Lloyd keep pushing the show into bold, surprising and properly funny places… It’s sharp, fearless, and exactly the kind of comedy we’re proud to back on the BBC.”

Welsh comedy Mammoth, about a PE teacher from the 70s, is created by and stars Mike Bubbins. Set and filmed in Cardiff, the 5 x 30-minute third run is co-written by Paul Doolan and Luke Mason, produced by Mason and exec produced by Josh Cole and Steven Canny.

The co-commissioners are Petrie and BBC Wales head of commissioning Nick Andrews, who said: “Comedy in Wales is in rude health and this series exemplifies the distinctive worlds being brought to life by the sector here – it’s hilarious.”

Kat Sadler’s Such Brave Girls, which picked up the Bafta for emerging talent – fiction in 2024, will once again star Sadler, her sister Lizzie Davidson and Louise Brealey as a dysfunctional family of women.

The 6 x 30-minute series, which will air on Hulu in the US, was ordered by Petrie and acting unscripted director Fiona Campbell.

Sadler exec producers with Jack Bayles and Phil Clarke, with Simon Bird as director and Catherine Gosling Fuller as producer.

Things You Should Have Done, which recently landed a YouTube spin-off interview format, is created by Lucia Keskin. The six-part, half-hour sitcom will once again follow her character Chi as she works through a list of actions left by her late parents.

Keskin, the recipient of the emerging talent Bafta, is the writer with producer Steve Monger director Jack Clough. The exec producers are Ash Atalla and Alex Smith.

Petrie said: “Series three promises to be every bit as wonderfully weird, surreal and brilliant as the first two award-winning series.”

BBC1 and BBC Scotland neighbours sitcom Two Doors Down, made by BBC Studios Comedy, will pick up where the 2025 Christmas special left off in Latimer Crescent, Glasgow.

Writer and co-creator Gregor Sharp said: “It was a lot of fun putting the band back together for the Christmas episode last year, so I’m really excited to be coming back with some new tunes, which we hope will turn out just as special.

“The cast are the most talented group of performers you could wish for, and I can’t wait to get started.”

Petrie added: “Eight series in, and the team are still making a world that audiences properly love spending time in. That’s no mean feat, and it’s a huge credit to the talent, care and commitment behind the show.”

It was created by Sharp and late Simon Carlyle and the executive producers are Sharp, Steven Canny and Josh Cole.