Channel 4 Orders Blaps From Nida Manzoor & Rose Matafeo – TVWise

Channel 4 has ordered two new Blaps: Lady Parts, from writer/director Nida Manzoor; and Temp, from Rose Matafeo – a comedian, writer and actor from New Zealand. Both Blaps are expected to enter production later this year.
Blaps is C4’s online comedy showcase in which projects from new talent is incubated with an eye towards earning a full series commission on the main channel or E4. Previous series to emanate from Blaps include Chewing Gum, GameFace, High & Dry, Stath Lets Flats and Lee & Dean – the latter of which was just renewed for a second season.
“Blaps have a proven track record of breaking new talent for C4 and so we’re delighted that these two totally original pieces from the brilliant Rose and Nida are kicking off our latest round”, Channel 4’s Head of Comedy Fiona McDermott said in a statement.
Lady Parts is a two-part music comedy following Amina Hussein, dutiful daughter and geeky biochemical engineering PHD student, who wants to find a husband and settle down. She also happens to shred a mean guitar and unbeknownst to her, Saira Shah, the tattooed, leather-clad front woman of Lady Parts, is desperate to find a lead guitarist. These two young women and their very different worlds are set on a collision course when Saira becomes convinced that Amina is the only woman for the job. Using Amina’s horniness as leverage, Saira nicknames her Thirsty (because she’s reaching for that D…) and hooks her up on a date with one of the hot AF Alkaaf brothers – making her an offer she can’t refuse. WTTV are producing. Nida Manzoor wrote the script and will also serve as the director. The executive producers are Mark Freeland and Surian Fletcher-Jones.
Rose Matafeo: Temp is a three-part Blap series which shows a slice of life of a transient temp worker and their interactions with three colourful characters in the same office building. Each Blap will be filmed in a boldly different style, taking aesthetic inspiration from films like 9 to 5 and Working Girl all the way to the off-beat stylings of Being John Malkovich. The series is being produced by Avalon and is being penned by Marafeo. Tom Miller is the producer, while Al Campbell is attached to direct. The executive producers are Rob Aslett, Richard Allen-Turner and Jon Thoday.
“We’re so thrilled to be working with these two brilliant women. Lady Parts is a one-of-a-kind music comedy from Nida who, along with her siblings, has written a brilliant, tongue-in-cheek song, which I cannot wait for audiences to hear”, added Laura Riseam, Commissioning Executive for Channel 4 Comedy. “Rose Matafeo: Temp is a brilliant ode to classic female workplace comedies that we all know and love and promises to be shot in inimitable style with visual references and gags aplenty. “