Fizzog humour to cross boundaries

International television audiences may soon be hooked by the best in Black Country drama and mirth as a theatre group prepares to pitch its production to executives at two European festivals.

Fizzog Theatre Company has already produced two pilot episodes of its Black Country comedy drama Black By Day.

Now the group, set up in 2006, is aiming to raise thousands of pounds to attend forthcoming television festivals in France and Switzerland.

Co-founder Deb Nicholls says the festivals represent the best chance for the group to meet the industry's big hitters in a bid to get the show fully commissioned.

The group needs to raise more than £8,000 to attend the Rose d'Or festival in Lausanne, Switzerland, and the MIPTV Media, held annually in April in Cannes, France.

Fizzog worked with Midlands-based Post Office Studios to produce the episodes which were filmed at the Black Country Living Museum. Fizzog will also look at the possibility of bringing in outside firms to help them pitch the television programme.

Black By Day is set in the early 1900s and focuses on two working class families struggling to survive in Victorian England.

Fizzog was formed by friends Deb, Susan Hawkins and Jacky Fellows and is based at Thorns Community College, Brierley Hill.