BBC Three confirms a second series of Witless

Witless, the BBC Three comedy starring Kerry Howard and Zoe Boyle, is to return for a second series.

Written by Lloyd Woolf & Joe Tucker, Witless follows Leanne (Howard) and Rhona (Zoe Boyle), two roommates whose lives are turned upside down after they witness a crime and are forced into witness protection.

“Witless has proved an instant smash hit for Three. The hooky narrative, superb performances and filmic execution landed it in the sweet spot for audiences who built and grew across the run. The cliff-hanger ending makes for an equally hilarious and gripping second series.” – Shane Allen, Controller of Comedy Commissioning

In the first series viewers saw unwitting Leanne and uptight Rhona given new identities and move into their safe house – a grubby flat in Swindon.

If being in ‘wit-pro’ wasn’t hard enough, the girls were then faced with two teenage underlings, the self-styled ‘DJ Sound as F***’ and ‘Appraisal’, sent by a criminal gang to track them down. After becoming deeply entangled in the criminal world they were trying to escape, series one ended on an out-and-out cliff-hanger.

Series two kicks off with the witless wonders facing their biggest scrape yet: with their ‘safe house’ no longer so safe, and unable to trust the police, Leanne and Rhona are on the run, again.

The first series garnered praise on social media and from critics with Total TV Guide describing the saga as ‘sharp, character comedy’.

“I’m beyond thrilled to get the chance to play the wonderfully playful puppy that is Leanne again. It’s such a pleasure to be working with everyone on this show – it has been a dream job and Zoe Boyle is a joy to work with. I cannot wait to read the scripts to see what Rhona and Leanne have to deal with this time – who knows what our mastermind writers Lloyd and Joe will come up with for this next series! They have absolutely nailed the art of a cliff-hanger. Let the drama and comedy roll on.” – Kerry Howard

Series two, another five-part run, was commissioned by Damian Kavanagh, Controller of BBC Three, and Gregor Sharp and Kate Daughton, Commissioning Editors, BBC Comedy. Objective Fiction, part of Objective Media Group, will once again oversee production.

The first series was available from BBC Three from Friday 22 April, then repeated on BBC One on Fridays at 11.20pm. The beeb note that all episodes are available online from BBC Three.