MTV grooms 'Fur TV'

Warp Films moves to tube with warped puppets

By DOMINIC SCHREIBER

MTV has picked up 'Fur TV,' an adult comedy series about a group of foulmouthed, sex-mad puppets, made by Warp Films.

MTV has picked up "Fur TV," an adult comedy series about a group of foulmouthed, sex-mad puppets, made by Warp Films, the U.K. shingle behind BAFTA-winning feature "This Is England."

Skein is Warp's first move into TV. Created by filmmakers Chris Waitt and Henry Trotter, "Fur TV" centers around three puppets who share a flat in the human world and spend their time drinking, fighting and trying to chat up girls.

"I can't imagine any other channels having the guts to commission a concept like 'Fur TV,' " said Heather Jones, executive VP content and creative, at MTV Networks U.K. "It's fresh, funny and outrageous and will make perfect late night TV."

Set to launch on MTV One in the U.K. on a Sunday night slot on April 27, theseries started out as a short film, which won a BBC Greenlight Award for new comedy in 2003 and a Golden Rose for best pilot in 2004. It aired on BBC2 in 2004.

When Warp producer Mary Burke came across the short, she approached Waitt about making a feature-length version, but, by then, the project had already been set up at MTV.

Last year, Waitt directed his first film for Warp, the feature documentary "A Complete History of My Sexual Failures," which recently screened at Sundance. His other credits include the Channel 4 short "The Naked Rambler."

Based in Sheffield, in the north of England, studio's other recent releases include thriller "Donkey Punch," which also premiered at this year's Sundance, and Paddy Considine's short "Dog Altogether."