David Farnor | On 30, Aug 2021

15 Storeys High, the sitcom by the late Sean Lock, has been added to BBC iPlayer, in the wake of the comedian’s tragic passing.

Lock, who won the British Comedy Award back in 2000, has been a household name for several decades, thanks to his team captain role on Channel 4’s 8 Out of 10 Cars and regular appearances on 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown, Have I Got News for You and QI. Since his passing earlier this month, fans have taken to the internet not only to pay tribute to his dry, deadpan observational humour but also to call for the BBC to broadcast his lesser seen sitcom 15 Storeys High.

The programme, which aired on BBC Choice (which later became BBC Three), was an expansion of his 1999 Radio 4 series of the same name. That, in turn was based on the radio show 15 Minutes of Misery, which saw Lock eavesdrop on his neighbours in his south London tower block. 15 Storeys High developed that premise into a comedy show following Lock and his flatmate, Errol, which also featuring their neighbours in the same London tower block.

The half-hour series was created and written by Lock, who starred as pessimist Vince, with Benedict Wong playing his Errol. One morose, sullen and mean-spirited, the other a bright-eyed innocent with a lot to learn about life, they were two very different blokes in one small flat and one huge apartment block. Their neighbours included a man who used his pitbull as a dumbbell, two table-tennis obsessed brothers, over-the-hill punks and a country and western poet who also fixed washing machines.

The series was broadcast in 2002, going on to run for a second season in 2004. Now, both seasons are back on BBC iPlayer, giving the country one more chance to enjoy the dark, surreal, sarcastic wit of a departed national treasure.

 

15 Storeys High is available on BBC iPlayer until July 2022

Add to Watchlist