Jennifer Saunders prepares third batch of Jam and Jerusalem for BBC1 (original) (raw)

Jennifer Saunders is to undertake a third series of her BBC1 Women's Institute comedy Jam and Jerusalem as her first project since officially splitting from comedy partner Dawn French.

The BBC1 show, about a group of WI members in Devon, also comes after Saunders reportedly criticised the corporation's comedy output last month.

Saunders is currently writing scripts for the new six-part series, which she also stars in.

Filming is due to begin at Pinewood studios and on location in Devon in April. It is due to air next year.

French appears in the ensemble show alongside Sue Johnston, Maggie Steed, Pauline McLynn and Sally Phillips. A BBC spokeswoman said the core cast was expected to return.

The show launched in November 2006 with 6.4 million viewers in a 9.30pm slot, although this had fallen to an average of around 3 million for its second run in an 8.30pm slot in January this year.

Saunders and French, who are both 50, officially brought the curtain down on their comedy double act after 30 years earlier this month with the end of their stage show Still Alive at London's Theatre Royal.

Last month, Saunders was reported as saying that the pair's frustration with the BBC also played a part in their decision to call time on their comic partnership.

She was quoted as saying that financial restraints and competition from digital channels meant that the BBC had been less willing to take on ambitious work, instead focusing on "populist" comedy.

"They are not making the kind of comedy we used to do - what they want now is populist programmes because there isn't the budget to try the more ambitious things we were doing," the Daily Mail quoted her as saying.
'We've been stopped from doing lots of sketches we wanted to do. The budgets for that kind of more ambitious stuff just aren't there now. Really, that's the reason we've decided to stop."

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