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BBC comedy to debut on iPlayer before you see it on TV

Starting with Jack Whitehall's Bad Education, BBC Three scripted comedy will be on iPlayer a week before you see it on TV.

Richard Trenholm Former Movie and TV Senior Editor
Richard Trenholm was CNET's film and TV editor, covering the big screen, small screen and streaming. A member of the Film Critic's Circle, he's covered technology and culture from London's tech scene to Europe's refugee camps to the Sundance film festival.
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Richard Trenholm
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iPlayer online catch-up is about to become online headstart. All BBC Three scripted comedy will make its debut on iPlayer from this summer -- so if it's not a panel or topical show and it's meant to be funny, it'll be on your computer before you see it on TV.

The iPlayer comedy premieres kick off at the end of August, the Beeb says, with the second series of Jack Whitehall's Teachers rip-off school-set sitcom Bad Education.

From then on, new episodes of BBC Three's sketch shows, sitcoms and other scripted comedy will be available to watch online for a week before they're shown on TV for the first time.

Channel 4 does something similar by putting the second episode of a series like Misfits online at 4oD as soon as the first episode has aired on TV. But the difference is online viewers of BBC Three shows will be a week ahead right from the off, with Bad Education not starting on telly until September.

Meanwhile Netflix is moving into showing new episodes of popular shows on a weekly basis, with the final season of Breaking Bad hitting Netflix before it's shown on telly.

Auntie is keen on bringing comedy to iPlayer first to see what works and then build word-of-mouth. iPlayer is home to Comedy Feeds, short episodes of potential new programmes that appear online and not on TV. The second batch of these one-off episodes is on iPlayer now, including a sketch show from the annoying sister off of BBC Three hit Him and Her.

And Peter Kay is currently filming a new programme that will premiere on iPlayer before TV. Four-wheeled sitcom Car Shareis Kay's first show for the BBC after success on Channel 4, and it hits the road later in the year.

Do you want to see new stuff on iPlayer, or should Internet services stick to catch-up? What's your favourite BBC programme at the moment? Tell me your thoughts in the comments or on our Facebook page.