Peter Kay's Carshare

Situation Comedy

Peter Kay's Carshare

Peter Kay's Carshare is a British sitcom which stars Peter Kay and 

Sian Gibson. The sitcom has won numerous awards for best comedy.

Who is it written by? 

The series is written by Peter Kay, Sian Gibson, Paul Coleman and 

Tim Reid.

When is it on?

It was first available on BBC Iplayer as a complete series and became the most watched series to be released as a box set. Because it was on BBC Iplayer anyone interested could watch it. Then it was broadcasted on BBC One on a friday night at 9:30, this would mean teenagers and adults would be able to watch it while kids would usually be asleep.

What are the codes and conventions of a situation comedy?

• The episodes are usually 30 minutes long.
• The same characters re-appear each episode.
• They are usually in the same setting. 
• They are usually situation led, various mishaps will occur and the episode will be based on that situation.
• The primary plotline is resolved in each episode.
• Sometimes the characters in the show will have cliched saying they will say in every episode.

Viewing Figures

Peter Kay's Carshare became the highest-rated new sitcom to premiere on any channel since 2011.

The figures show 6.85 million people watched its opening episode on BBC One on television, while another 2.5 million viewed it on BBC Iplayer when it was available. 

Critic Review 

Grace Dent said:

Statisticians could prove this with a graph. Gosh, I want to laugh. And many times while watching a celebrated writer's latest labour of love a willing smile will dance around my mouth. Still, a genuine LOL (as the hip things say) is rare.

But I laughed over and over again, loudly and gracelessly, during BBC1's Car Share, Peter Kay's new, pared-down comedy project. Curmudgeonly John (Kay) has been allotted a chipper colleague, Kayleigh (Sian Gibson), as his car-share buddy as part of a corporate bid to save on parking spaces. The rest is simply wittering on. The complete series premiered on iPlayer, drawing a record 2.8 million viewers. I gobbled up the whole series in one afternoon. One serving wasn't nearly enough.

Episodes
The first series contained 6 half-an-hour episodes. The first episode was aired on the 29th of April 2015. There was also a one off Christmas special episode. Sitcoms tend to be short, especially when compared to dramas which are usually an hour long. Sitcoms usually contain comedy that pushes the boundaries and so if the episodes were longer then the humour could get repetitive. So, by keeping it short, the series keeps it's comedic value.