BBC1's Grey Mates sitcom to star Alison Steadman and Russ Abbot

Russ Abbot, Alison Steadman and June Whitfield will star in new BBC1 sitcom Grey Mates, one of three new shows on the channel including a five-part sequel to Afghanistan war drama Our Girl and a docusoap about high street food chain, KFC.

BBC1 controller Charlotte Moore also announced new series of David Walliams comedy Big School and Adil Ray's Citizen Khan, and confirmed a new 90-minute drama about Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, written by Jeff Pope.

Grey Mates, written by Richard Pinto and made by Have I Got News for You producer Hat Trick, will follow the ups and downs of three recently retired couples whose children have just left home and will also star Stephanie Beacham, Philip Jackson and James Smith.

Moore said it was a "fabulously witty portrayal of suburbia" but said it would be "cynical" to suggest it was aimed at the same audience who enjoyed another BBC1 series about the over-60s, Sally Wainwright's award-winning drama, Last Tango In Halifax.

"It's not about trying to appeal to a particular audience. We are a big broad audience of all ages," she said at a Bafta event in London on Monday.

"I commissioned Grey Mates because it was very funny and makes me laugh a lot. It will have great broad appeal. I think Last Tango in Halifax doesn't feel like anything else on TV at the moment. It's a very layered form of storytelling that is really quite edgy and provocative as well."

The BBC has been criticised for not putting more older people on screen, and when Last Tango star Anne Reid won a Bafta last year she said she was "so glad the BBC has decided at last to do love stories about people who are over 35".

Moore added "If you want an audience that is diverse you have got to make sure the people making the programmes on screen and off are broad and diverse."

She said the three-part fly on the wall series about KFC, made by independent producer Wild Pictures, would be a "warts and all" portrayal of the fast food giant which had "unprecedented access".

Like BBC1's recently announced documentary series going behind the scenes at the Metropolitan police, Moore said: "We are not doing an investigative documentary, that's not our mission.

"Investigative documentaries would never uncover the stories we are uncovering which is about the people who work there, what it's like to be a policeman, or work behind the counter. We don't make [these documentaris] if we don't get proper access. You absolutely have to sign up that editorial control remains with the BBC, it's warts and all, top to bottom."

She added: "The Met have been very brave to realise you can't continue to be a closed institution. There's a real appetite in this country for letting people in, if you are closing the doors that can have an adverse effect."

Our Girl, the acclaimed one-off made by the BBC's in-house drama department featuring former EastEnders star Lacey Turner, will return for a new five-part series.

Moore, whose channel will show BBC2 hit The Great British Bake Off next year after this year's final was watched by more than 8 million viewers, defended the decision that it should switch channels.

"Moving it to BBC1 is not about changing the integrity of the show or the authenticity of the experience," she said. "It's done so well on BBC2 and become this national talking point, the national conversation is what BBC1 is about.

"It would be very strange not to put it at the very front of your shop window."

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