Just 3 years after denouncing the state of British Comedy on a Channel 4 documentary, TV exec David Liddiment has taken part in a panel at the Edinburgh International Television Festival that celebrates the arrival of a new wave – one that includes the risible Lab Rats.
Lest we forget, this is the man that stated that the British sitcom had declined throughout the 1990s – an era that saw Red Dwarf, Joking Apart, Absolutely Fabulous and Father Ted not to mention One Foot in the Grave dominating the comedy landscape. (While Joking Apart wasn’t a huge hit at the time it was critically acclaimed and became a cult classic)
How dare this man – who has never written a comedy in his life – ponce onto any given platform and make such a judgment?
Exactly what is his background in television?
Currently on the board of the BBC Trust, Liddiment has produced episodes of Coronation Street, Children’s Ward and Families – all soaps. He’s also run the “comedies” The Kate Robbins Show, an episode of Watching and the Reeves and Mortimer vehicle The Weekenders.
And that’s it. Reeves and Mortimer apart, David Liddiment knows nothing about comedy. His involvement with Vic & Bob was no doubt an accident, and certainly they haven’t wandered the streets calling our his name, desperate to repeat their involvement.
At the end of the day, Liddiment’s knowledge of comedy is on a par with my knowledge of Olympic history. He’s a numbers man, concerned with budgets and personnel. He’s the wrong man, and certainly the wrong man to listen to.