BBC ready to launch three new comedies with Scottish star Shauna Macdonald

BBC Scotland is set to launch three new Scottish comedies early next year – about a weekly gathering of addicts for a therapy session, a dysfunctional family and a multi-tasking mother struggling to control her three young children.

Showcasing the antics of the funniest fictional family in Scotland – the Scotts - the comedy revolves around siblings Henry (Connell) and Vincent (Florence) who have a love/hate relationship plus their wives Vonny (Shauna Macdonald) and Laura (Sharon Young) and their sister Colette (Louise McCarthy). © Martin Shields

The three half-hour shows, which have been funded by the new Screen Scotland agency, could be developed into full series if they win approval from audiences.

Crime writer Denise Mina has joined forces with Annie Griffin, creator of the hit Channel 4 comedy drama The Book Group, to create the new show “Group”.

Its cast includes Scot Squad favourite Sally Reid, Outlander star Grant O’Rourke, Jonathan Watson, creator of the long-running Scottish football satire Only An Excuse, and Lucianne McEvoy, star of recent Edinburgh Festival Fringe show Ulster American.

Burniston stars Robert Florence and Iain Connell have created The Scotts, who are billed as “the funniest fictional family in Scotland”.

They will star alongside Shauna Macdonald, star of recent Fringe hit Mouthpiece, as well as the films Filth, The Descent and White Chamber, and Scot Squad star Louise McCarthy.

Belfast-born actress Scarlett Black, who is best known for her work on Outlander and Rab C Nesbitt, will lead the cast of Daily Grind, which will be set entirely in the Daly household. Gavin Smith, commissioning executive at BBC Scotland, said: “It’s exciting to be working with Screen Scotland and to announce a new slate of comedies featuring new and established talent in front and behind the camera.

“Family and relationships are at the heart of all shows and each taps into the stressful side of modern Scottish life in their own unique way. We hope audiences love the new characters coming from BBC Scotland.”