Archives for August 2010

Director Matt Lipsey writes...

What defines a show as a comedy drama? There, I've said it. I had to put that down up front just in case I bottled. The reason for my trepidation is that this question is fraught with difficulties.

I could take the soft option and use the Wikipedia definition: "a genre in which there is an equal or nearly equal balance of humor and serious content". Okay - but then we need a definition of "serious content". I might as well just blunder in and say that in my humble opinion, the "serious content" or drama bit is at least in part to do with consequence; i.e. when our central protagonists inhabit a world where their action and the actions of those around them have real palpable consequence, the kind that can change their lives for better or worse.

In other words, their lives are governed by the same set of rules that apply to rest of us here in Reality Land. I can almost hear some of you starting to tap descent into your keyboards. Yes I know - it's not adequate, but then I did say it's fraught. You see as soon as you take a definition and try to apply it to many of your favourite shows, you see how the lines blur. Anyway, just roll with my loose definition for a minute whilst I apply it to Vexed.

In Episode One, Jack and Kate are both given access to private and personal information and in a sense tested as to what they will choose to do with it. In both cases their actions have what I can only describe as dramatic consequences. The fact that the actions and consequences have comedy too, possibly even commensurate with the drama, is what then defines this as comedy drama. But what makes this so good and gives it real resonance is that the two are intertwined so completely - and just like real life, pathos and bathos walk hand in hand.

Getting the balance right is crucial. It may sound obvious, but it's just not as simple as a bit of drama followed by a bit of comedy. The general tone has to be set, you the audience need to have some idea of what you are in for. For example is it light, dark or black? This might be one way to differentiate. Of course there are many possible shades in between. An audience needs to feel that they are in safe hands, that the programme makers know what they are doing. You can always subvert, or pull the rug, but only if you have the trust of the audience that if you cause them to trip, you will catch them. The best comedy dramas, in my opinion, do this effortlessly.

The final episode of this short series of Vexed is on Sunday 29th August at 9pm on BBC Two. Read more about Vexed.

Rhod Gilbert's brand new TV show, Ask Rhod Gilbert, is coming soon to BBC One. And they have a message for you...

Have you got a question that you've always wanted answered? Rhod is hosting a new show and he and his panel want to answer your questions.

Have you ever wondered who would win a race between Usain Bolt and a Grizzly Bear?

Can a dog blow?

Can you build a fire in an igloo?

Well, why not Ask Rhod Gilbert?

Rhod is looking for lively, inquisitive people to be a part of his audience, where you could get the opportunity to ask your question to his panel of comedians and celebrity guests live on the show.

If you're interested in taking part, send Rhod's team your questions and a contact telephone number at ask@greeninc.tv

Every question deserves an answer, even the ridiculous ones.

Look out for more from Ask Rhod Gilbert here on the Comedy Blog over the next few weeks. Rhod is also in tonight's episode of Would I Lie To You? at 10.35pm on BBC One:

Goodness me. I'm fit to burst with Edinburgh news right now. Well! Better out than in...

Edinburgh Comedy Awards

The shortlists for this year's Edinburgh Comedy Awards have been announced, and they make for pleasing reading:

Best Comedy Show

• Bo Burnham: Words, Words, Words
• Josie Long: Be Honourable!
• Greg Davies: Firing Cheeseballs at a Dog
• Russell Kane: Smokescreens and Castles
• Sarah Millican: Chatterbox

Best Newcomer

• Asher Treleaven: Secret Door
• An Audience with Imran Yusuf
• The Boy with Tape on His Face
• Gareth Richards: Stand Up Between Songs
• Late Night Gimp Fight!
• Roisin Conaty: Hero,Warrior, Fireman, Liar

Three of those shortlisted are featured in our Edinburgh Live sessions - which we are publishing on the Comedy site every day this week. Look!

Here's The Boy with Tape on his Face:

and Bo Burnham:

Get ready for a performance by Imran Yusuf in the very near future. In the meantime, watch more acts from Show One and Show Two.

Radio 4 Comedy - open air Just a Minute and more

Last week I mentioned Radio 4's Edinburgh activities, including getting a load of comedians to storm the Royal Mile. Now they've even staged an open air edition of Just a Minute featuring Scott Mills, Gyles Brandreth, Jenny Eclair and Paul Merton:

To watch extended highlights of Radio 4's Edinburgh mischief, press the Red Button on any BBC digital channel. It'll be available until the end of August 27th. Visit the Radio 4 site to watch more clips and see the full list of comedians involved.

Director Matt Lipsey writes...

If you have a great script then the first thing you can do as a director to f**k it up is cast it badly. So here I was with a script where the two central characters are, at least in part (and in no particular order): dysfunctional, neurotic, sexist, quarrelsome, self righteous and paranoid.

Couple these elements with a need for them to be sexy, bright and warm people you genuinely want spend time around. As you can see that this was going to be more than a little tricky to cast. Cast it wrong and they will just be irritating, but get it right and all the glorious flawed humanity will shine through and you will fall in love with our duo.

Jack was his own particular challenge since someone so self-absorbed and cocksure could easily end up grating. Also, this is a comedy drama and so we had to have someone who had funny bones. Enter what for me is a really refreshing and surprising choice: Toby Stephens.

Here's an actor largely known for his dramatic work, period pieces and theatre. Having had the pleasure of working with him on Vexed I can't think for the life of me why he has never before emerged as great comic talent. He manages to imbue Jack with a likeability by allowing just enough vulnerability to seep out, his arrogance is delivered with such charm that it's nearly impossible not to like him and he is, for my money, a very funny actor.

Then there is Kate - slightly neurotic, headstrong, somewhat stuck in the mud. As written she very much plays the straight guy to Jack. So we cast a consummate comedic performer Lucy Punch. It was a gamble that pays off, for she both found comedy where we hadn't seen it and humanity where it was crucial for gaining empathy. She sets Jack up beautifully, paving the way for full comic payoff.

As for chemistry, well I can only hope the rest of you will feel as I do. You can't cast for chemistry, I don't think. You can take an educated guess but I think most shows that have it just got lucky. Apparently Bruce and Cybil hated each other off the set of Moonlighting, so how can you possibly know? Time will tell but I think these two have it.

Vexed continues on Sunday 22nd August at 9pm on BBC Two.

Developing your sitcom writing and getting to the next level can seem daunting if you don't have support - which, thankfully, is where the BBC College of Comedy comes in.

According to a new press release, they have announced two new writing initiatives for 2010:

• All Mixed-Up is a sitcom writing competition where writers will be asked to submit proposals which reflect multi-cultural Britain.

• The second initiative will be in collaboration with CBeebies In-house Production to develop a writing workshop which explores the creation of new comedy for viewers aged four to six.

All Mixed-Up

Writers who are interested in All Mixed-Up, and can demonstrate some professional achievement are requested to submit the first ten pages of a script, with a limit of six characters and three settings.

The best six scripts will be workshopped in preparation for a showcase with a professional cast at the Soho Theatre on 4th December, where a celebrity panel will choose the best two for further development by BBC Comedy. Both scripts will be optioned, with the winner's option worth £1000, and the runner-up £500.

Writers of the next best six scripts will be invited to attend workshops on 4th December, and to join the showcase audience.

The competition is being run in association with Triforce Promotions, which promotes talent across a multi-cultural network of people in the media industries.

The aim is to encourage work by diverse voices, and to provide promising writers with an opportunity to develop their professional skills.

Micheál Jacob, college creative head, said: "We hope the competition will attract entries from writers who may feel their lives are not currently reflected in television comedy, and will introduce us to funny and fresh new voices."

CBeebies

The second initiative will see the college and CBeebies run a four-day workshop to explore the creation of a new comedy for viewers aged from four to six. Invited writers will be given an insight into the CBeebies audience, hear case studies on hit shows for the channel including Gigglebiz and Grandpa in My Pocket, and work together to develop ideas for a live action programme.

The workshop will be held in Newcastle in November.

For more information about getting started in comedy writing, visit the BBC Writersroom website.

So you think you know comedy? Now's your chance to prove it! We've teamed up with linguistic magician Scroobius Pip to bring you a comedy-rap-cum-sushi-guessing-game to test your knowledge.

Set in a world where STAND-UP COMEDY NEVER EXISTED, not only is the rap very enlightening about how weird and awful that would be, the video is packed with references to comedians and TV shows.

Can you guess them all? Work together on it in the comments if you like, and we'll share the answers with you in the next video. Good luck.


Get stuck in to more interactive fun on the Blog.

The Edinburgh Festival is heaven for the comedy fan. One city crammed with more acts than you can humanly see over the space of a few weeks - from fresh-faced new talent to legendary old favourites - in venues that crop up on any available horizontal land. Including inside caves, under inflatable cows and countless temporary huts.

Unfortunately, it isn't practical for every comedy fan to attend it. We thought long and hard about a solution for this, which we then had to scrap because it violated international human rights conventions.

Then we came up with a new solution that would put barely anyone in extreme physical danger: we filmed a series of live comedy nights in their entirety, which we will be publishing for you to watch on our site, at your convenience, next week.

Here are just a few of the acts you'll be able to watch here at bbc.co.uk/comedy starting from Monday 23rd August:

Radio 4 Comedy at Edinburgh

We're not the only ones who have been up in Edinburgh. Those mischief-makers over at Radio 4 have also been having a laugh - they brought together a mob of comedians, led by Mark Watson, to appear as if from nowhere in the midst of the bustle of the Royal Mile:


There'll be more from the comedy flashmob on the Radio 4 website in the next few days, and on the Red Button on August 27th and 28th.

Bacon Goes Back

Readers who were paying attention this time last year may remember Richard Bacon's Edinburgh stand-up... ahem, experiment. If you missed it, here is the result.

Needless to say, Richard will not be returning to stand-up comedy this festival. But he will be back in Edinburgh, broadcasting his 5 Live afternoon show in front of a live audience, where he'll play host to some top comedians. Listen out for that on the radio from Monday 23rd August, and also remember to come back here to watch videos of the guests.



For even more information about what the BBC is covering in Edinburgh this year, visit BBC Scotland's handy Edinburgh Festivals site.

If you asked Angelos a question on his webcam, you might have got a reply in this video! Sorry if Angelos has not answered your question - he is a very busy man, what with the pound shop and the DJing and...other stuff.


Angelos will be keeping the scores on Shooting Starstonight, 9.30pm on BBC Two.

As the producer of That Mitchell and Webb Look I often imagine what it would be like to have thousands of fans clamouring for an end-of-series-four quiz. I think I'd probably be initially flattered that the show has generated so much interest among so many hypothetical people, and then as the work involved in setting such a quiz dawned on me that feeling would be tinged with resentment. "I am quite busy," I might sigh, "can you not all just move on with your hypothetical lives?" Then I'd feel guilty, and cobble something together just to stop that pitiful "hurt" look I can see behind your eyes.

1. David and Robert didn't go into comedy just to do jokes of course. Every series of Mitchell and Webb also aims to achieve real change in a specific way. Here are the goals for each series. But which is the goal for series four?

a) End child poverty.
b) Develop commercially-viable nuclear fusion.
c) Learn to set more realistic goals.
d) Despair at the impossibility of effecting change with a comedy show.

2. David Mitchell is famously superstitious. Which of the following will he not allow in his dressing room before a recording for, in his words, "obvious health and safety reasons"?

a) Pens
b) Cushions
c) A rabid fox
d) Anything made of Bakelite.

3. If you are a Mitchell and Webb fan you'll know the Anthem. But what is the last line of the second verse?

a) "So funny days shall never cease."
b) "And Germany and France in flames."
c) "Nor tinker with the status quo."
d) "This page intentionally left blank."

4. Robert has to pop to the shops but is frightened of the ninjas. Can you help him find the way?

a) Shouldn't there be a map or a maze or something?
b) I'm afraid I don't know this part of town very well.
c) I am a ninja and he has nothing to fear if he does our bidding.
d) Done it!

5. Gareth Edwards, the producer, is actually on holiday at the moment and is compiling this quiz in his own spare time. Are you happy now?

a) If I'd known he'd be so huffy about it I wouldn't have bothered.
b) Yes.
c) So? I'm reading it in my spare time and I'm not complaining.
d) I have other issues you know nothing of that put real happiness forever beyond my reach.

Continue reading for the answers...

Read the rest of this entry

Beth Kilcoyne, co-writer of Roger and Val have Just Got In, writes...

Exactly as I predicted, the day your show goes out for the first time feels like both a wedding and a court appearance. All day I looked at all the other people who weren't me and felt like I was...not underwater maybe, but breathing slower air. "Are you excited? You must be?" Loads of people asked me that and it sounded audible but unintelligible, like a foreign language, though I could work out a little of what they meant. It's a very strange feeling watching it being broadcast. I'm trying to think how to describe it: I would say when it was on I fully believed that it was only on my personal screen and to think it was on everyone else's was ridiculous.

"Auntie Dorothy loves it!" / "Auntie Pat loves it!" / "Sue over the road loves it! Says will definitely tune in next week." These are three of about thirty similar texts I got from my Mum as Roger and Val ended. Obviously, it would've been more of a surprise to have "Auntie Dorothy in shock Roger and Val rebellion" pinging in and that's why we have to have critics.

Fair enough. I woke up too early on both Saturday and Sunday mornings and lay there hard awake, desperately wishing Sue Over The Road was the TV critic for The Times. There was no way out - Dawn French and Fred Molina were in this show, it would definitely be reviewed.

My partner I thought was very manly and without any prompting got up both mornings to get the papers and look through them on my behalf. I could hear him pacing around downstairs as I found my most comforting position was to kneel flat out under the quilt with my hands gripping the end of the mattress for support. I'm hoping to do better this week.

In tonight's episode Roger and Val have a row. I fully believe Val to be in the right and Roger needs to chill out. However, he is not as unreasonable as he at first appears and a deeper, horrific happening at work is to blame for his tension. As you'll see, from beginning to end, a pack of fishfingers causes no end of trouble and I feel Val definitely deserves her pizza. In fact if you fancy a take away tonight this episode will fully support your decision and remove any feelings of guilt. Because terrible things can happen when you cook a boring tea...

This episode is the last to just drop tiny hints, before we make it completely clear next week what this show is really about and where it's going to go. A few critics have, rightly, wondered if comedy about "getting in" was enough to sustain a full series. The answer is no, it isn't. Roger and Val is a comedy but it is also a drama, and it is a drama about a terrible tragedy. We made it as a comedy because we all felt comedy can get you through a lot in life; having a laugh is rarely a bad thing. I hope we give you one tonight if you are tuning in.

Beth Kilcoyne co-wrote Roger and Val Have Just Got In with her sister Emma. Watch the second episode tonight - Friday 13th August at 10pm on BBC Two.

Director Matt Lipsey writes...

Vexed began for me, as most projects do, with a call from my agent asking if I wanted to read a script. That bit was normal, nothing out of the ordinary. The next bit was the bit that was right out from left field: "it's for a new cop show", she said.

I think the words "we need a new cop show almost as desperately as we need a new talent show" came out, or words to that effect. "No, apparently this is different" she went on to explain. Yeah right! Then I found out that it was written by Howard Overman. I'd already had a chance to read an early draft of Misfits (it was fabulous as a piece of writing - and went on to become fabulous as a piece of telly) so the cynic in me was temporarily set aside.

The pitch at its most simplified is this: a cop show that's not a cop show, or, Moonlighting for the noughties. Two mismatched police officers forced together in the line of duty. She is a slightly repressed and insecure, diligent hard worker who does things by the book and he is a wholly unreconstructed lothario for whom police work just gets in the way of the more important job of enjoying himself. No surprises then that they hate each other - but life is never that simple, never that black and white. I only had episode one to read but it was more than enough to hook me. Not to harp on about it but anyone who has seen Misfits will know what Overman is capable of - nothing is ever quite what it seems. And Vexed didn't disappoint. Funny, clever, ballsy, razor sharp, and often deliciously, dangerously wrong.

Read the rest of this entry

Ben Wheatley writes...

Here it is - the trailer for Idealseries six. This is the second series of Ideal I've directed and I felt a lot less nervous than last year. In series five I went in as a fan - just being in the set was exciting. This year I knew all the nooks and crannies. Last year we shot 1000 slates, so I was ready!

The main difference for me this year is that we shot using prime lenses. Primes are what feature films use. The lenses give you a much shallower depth of field, and it looks great. It also puts a lot of pressure on the camera department. Director of Photography John Sorapure (with Pete Rowe on the first two weeks) and his focus puller Geriant Owen really earned their money this year. Hehe you can tell this is written by the director... nobody wants to know any of this!

What, you want to know, is Johnny Vegas like? Well, I like Vegas so much I have a sculpture of his head in my front room. When I am on the phone I have developed a nasty habit of cupping his chin as I talk.

Ideal in Two Minutes

A lot can happen in one series of Ideal, never mind five.

•  Here's a two-minute overview of the story so far.

Ben Wheatley directed the new series of Ideal, which starts on Tuesday 17th August at 10.30pm on BBC Three. He is also one half of The Amazing Wizards.

We Are Klang's Greg and Marek have taken a little holiday in Edinburgh - apparently there's a festival on. They made this video just for you:


Find out how the first Pigdog performance does in Part Two.

The Klang Show

The good news is, Marek's Pigdog isn't the only new show from the Klang camp. Look out for the pilot of The Klang Show on BBC Three next week!

More from Edinburgh

We're preparing something very special for you here on the BBC Comedy website. Next week we'll be bringing the live Edinburgh comedy night experience to you right here on the internets.

Meanwhile, you can read the Edinburgh diary of comedian Elis James over on the BBC Wales Arts Blog.

Update: the online premier of The Klang Show is temporarily unavailable.

Mongrels director Adam Miller writes...

Tonight's episode brings to a close this series of Mongrels and I'd like to take the opportunity to thank the lovely viewers that have stuck with us and posted their support on our Facebook site, Youtube, Twitter and elsewhere. More than anything else it makes me happy that I'm not the only who wants a "Morning C****!" T-shirt and a fluffy rat toy for Christmas.

One thing I do hope Mongrels has brought with it is further proof that puppetry is a great and yet vastly underused medium with which to play on adult shows. There's an enormous number of hugely talented puppeteers out there who only really get to show their stuff on kids TV, which to my mind is a criminal waste. As an adult I still find something visceral and wonderfully low-tech about puppetry that you'll never get with CG animation, and yet there's a physicality they bring that humans simply can't replicate.

So thank you, puppeteers, for making me laugh so much over the last five years, and here's hoping for some more puppet shows on TV very soon.

Watch the final episode of Mongrelstonight at 10.30pm on BBC Three.

Mongrels Uncovered

The Mongrels fun doesn't have to end here! Once you've watched the final episode, pop over to the BBC Three Blog for to see how it was all done. Expect to see some hands up some Mongrel derriers.

• Watch Mongrels Uncovered on the BBC Three Blog
  

As the producer of That Mitchell and Webb Look I'm often asked if it's as much fun working with David and Rob as it is watching them. The answer is of course no.

Scientists have known for some years that the universe contains a constant quantity of happiness that cannot be created or destroyed, it can only be re-arranged. Making a comedy programme essentially means creating a temporarily high local concentration of happiness and capturing it on camera. The best way to do this is to push all the happiness out of the surrounding area and onto the set, and it's something that I take great pride in as a producer.

Here's how it's done...

Read the rest of this entry

Mongrels writer Jon Brown says...

Every show has its own set of rules. "No hugging, no learning," to quote an over-quoted example. Thing is, the contents of any given sitcom's rulebook only usually become apparent once you've pitched the producer a load of story ideas and he's patiently explaining why NONE of them are quite right. "The characters all hate each other, that's kind of one of the rules of the show." "None of the characters have any money, that's kind of one of the rules of the show." "Gary can only travel back in time to 1940s Blitz-era London and then forward again to the 1990s (and NOT back to 5th century Britain), that's kind of one of the rules of the show."

Well, let's lay this particular rulebook open. So here they are, the Six Commandments of Mongrels:

#1 No puppet jokes -- The immutable law of Mongrels. There can be no jokes about "having a hand up your arse", or "knocking the stuffing out of someone." Never ever ever. Ever.

#2 Keep the gang together -- You may have noticed, but foxes, cats, pigeons and dogs don't often hang around together embroiling themselves in extended comedic hijinx. Well tough shit, because these ones do. And if you're writing it, it's your job to find problems that keep them together.

#3 We're in the real world -- Which is why every episode starts on actual humans in the actual human world, before panning to reveal our animals in the margins. The audience needs to know where they are, and who's world this is.

#4 Cutaways are a law unto themselves -- You can do anything you want in a cutaway. Provided you can persuade Eamonn Holmes' agent it's a good idea.

#5 You can't end every episode with "then Vince enters and eats everyone" - it's tempting. Especially when you've written Nelson into a corner and he's lumbered with a disabled surrogate runt baby. But just because the real animal kingdom is a brutal place where senseless, random things happen, doesn't mean you can ignore the age-old golden sitcom rules of 'fair play.'

#6 Adding the line "... but with animals" to descriptions of old episodes of Two and a Half Men does NOT constitute a day of storylining - although that never stopped us.

#7 All rules are made to be broken - except the first one.

(Finally, anyone interested in reading an Arthurian special of Goodnight Sweetheart, in which Gary Sparrow takes some WD-40 to the Sword in the Stone, please contact my agent.)

Watch the final episode of Mongrels on Tuesday 10th August at 10.30pm on BBC Three.

Hold on to your hats/terrifying masks, Psychoville fans! Here's some hot news about what's coming up, straight from the press office...

Star of stage and screen Imelda Staunton is to join the cast of the forthcoming Halloween Special and the second series of the award-winning, comedy thriller Psychoville.

For Imelda this marks a return to TV comedy, after her recent roles in the Harry Potter series, the Oscar nominated Vera Drake and the roving gossip Miss Pole in BBC One's Cranford. Imelda will star as a sharp suited, shadowy figure with mysterious motives.

Imelda says, "There's nothing I enjoy more than hanging out with weirdos, freaks and undesirables, so of course I jumped at the chance to work on Psychoville with Steve and Reece'

And once again writers Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton take centre stage playing a range of loveable grotesques in a world that only they could imagine.

Reece and Steve say: "Imelda completely "got" the show and we felt really lucky to "get" her. She was fantastically funny as a slightly frustrated megalomaniac".

Commenting on her character they added: "She looks like a cross between Mary Quant and Louise Brooks in the role. She plays a powerful woman who is a little bit Jane Tennison from Prime Suspect but longs to be James Bonds' M."

In the sixty minute special the spirits are gathering at Ravenhill Hospital where TV researcher Phil from Dale Winton's Overnight Ghost Hunt is scouting locations. He is about to have a night that he will never forget - assuming he lives that long...
Set on the scariest night of the year, this gothic special features an anthology of terror that will both fright and delight. It will both trick and treat.

The cast for the second series also includes Jason Watkins (Being Human, Lark Rise to Candleford), Mark Bonnar (Casualty), Sarah Solemani (Him and Her), David Cann (Brass Eye) and Katherine Parkinson (The IT Crowd).

Filming on the Halloween special and series two has now finished. The Halloween special will air later this year and series two will follow in 2011, with another mystery set to draw viewers into the disturbingly weird and wonderful world that is Psychoville.

Keep an eye on this blog to hear about it first!

To coincide with the release of a series of new music videos from acclaimed music genius Jonni Music, we're proud to welcome music journalist James Kettle to the blog to tell us a bit about the music of Jonni Music.

James Kettle writes:

Have you heard the buzz that's going round the UK? In the clubs, on the streets, in gigs, cafes and restaurants. It's a quiet but persistent buzz, like the whirr of a worker bee or the unmistakable hum of a distant hornet. It's the buzz about Jonni Music.

A lot of records come across my desk (although in these days of new technology, they're less likely to be records, and more often CDs or cassettes). PRs and pluggers are always trying to push the latest hot sounds my way (can you push a sound? Subs please check this). But from the moment I got the first demo of "Song About You" from Jonni Music, I knew this was something special. I listened to it once. Then I listened to it again. Yup - right first time. A classic.

Jonni Music's music is music that demands to be heard. Not requests, not suggests - demands. You put this record on, you can't help but hear it.

It's music that says "believe." It's music that says "trust." It's music that says "don't judge me, love me - and then judge me, and judge that I am excellent."

To me it's no surprise that Jonni has made it to the top in such a short space of time. As I helped him down from the stage of Tokyo's O2 Budokan, dodging bouquets being hurled by thousands of literally fans, I looked into his deep blue eyes, eyes that have seen so much. "Jonni", I said, "Jonni, Jonni, Jonni, Jonni." Finally I attracted his attention. "Jonni", I said. "You are music." He looked back at me, as always so sensitive and wise. "I know," he said. "That's my name."

Another Jonni Music music video will be published next week. James Kettle writes for The Guardian. He is currently working on his first volume of collected music journalism "Myth or Metallica?: Musings On A Rock Millennium".

Beth Kilcoyne writes...

Nearly three years ago a card dropped through my door and when I had read it I started running round my house, screaming. This is because the card was from Dawn French, who had seen a comedy written by me and my sister Emma and it invited us to go to a meeting with her. Having grown up as a passionate fan of French and Saunders it's interesting how words come out of you at such a moment. Mine were the standard, "I can't believe it!" but suddenly, and at a very high pitch.

It was at that meeting, at Pinewood Studios, that Roger and Val Have Just Got In was born. Dawn is an amazing artist and working closely with her has been a three year master-class. She wanted a show about the half hour when you've just got in from work, in real time, with just two characters - oh, and the characters needed to be happily married. That is a very difficult thing to write. After three scripts, we secured the brilliant Hugo Blick as Executive Producer and he started encouraging us to dig much deeper. On script, I would say Hugo sees things that other people don't see. What has emerged is a show that is all of itself; it isn't really a sitcom. It is a narrative comedy drama and, when it unfolds, it is about the biggest thing in life.

It now needed a fantastic actor, who could do both comedy and tragedy. Dawn's first choice was Alfred Molina. Here are the emails between me and Pete, the Producer, about that:

"The scripts are now with Alfred Molina. We won't sign him, he's a Hollywood star, so while that pipe dream bubbles along I'll look at more realistic choices."

"Pete? I'm prepared to fly to LA on my own Barclaycard to persuade him if it would help?"

"No Beth. Don't think that would help."

Then we signed him. I got such a shock. I got the news as I was getting on a train to Sunderland (where I'm from) and I kept trying to picture where he would've read the scripts: on a lounger by his swimming pool with a cigar? I imagined Fred would come into the rehearsal room in a baseball cap and dark glasses drawling things like, "is my car here yet?" But no! Fred is shockingly un-moviestar-like and unassuming. So much so that when you do meet him and say things like, "Hello Alfred Molina, I've been told not to be star struck but please can I just say I can't believe you're in my show?" he really doesn't mind. He doesn't have a swimming pool though, because his wife likes a garden...

Being the writer of a new series that is about to go out is not relaxing. You feel a bit like you should go and get your hair done (why?) and a bit like you're going to the dentist and will definitely get a filling all at the same time. We hope you'll love 'Roger & Val' as much as the cast and crew did. It's different.

Beth Kilcoyne co-wrote Roger and Val Have Just Got In with her sister Emma. Watch the first episode on Friday 6th August at 10pm on BBC Two.

• Watch previews of new comedy shows coming to BBC Two, including Roger and Val.
  

Apparently we're not on holiday - we're having a "staycation". That's what poor people do when they can't afford to go abroad. Obviously in my case the decision to stay on home turf has not been financially motivated - I've got loads of money. Problem is, it's all tied up in land (well, more precisely, it's tied up in bundles, buried in land).

Anyway, the problem with abroad is that it's packed full of foreigners, and who wants to go on holiday and get a face full of foreign? Time was when the only decision you had to make about foreign countries was how to stake a claim - by force or by marriage? These days you can pop in and out without a snog or a rumble and frankly the fun's gone right out of it.

Which is why we've chosen to stay here in Sandy Hole this summer, although I have to say, the time is really starting to drag. Catherine won't tell me exactly when we're going home in case I get too excited and make myself sick, but it can't be long now.

For instance, I'm not one to look for omens, but they do say it's not over until the fat lady sings, and based on the warbling whopper who turned out for Monday night's karaoke competition, the end must surely be nigh.

But overall, it has been fairly relaxing and I've learnt a few useful things:

• I've realised that boredom, not necessity, is the mother of invention. For instance I've made a complete Monopoly set out of natural materials - a board made of bark, Community Chest and Chance cards written on leaves with charcoal and pebbles for hotels. The old boot playing piece is, somewhat ingeniously, a real old boot. Yes! High fives for Henry!

• I've also discovered a new kind of attractive force - somewhere between the strength of gravity and magnetism - which appears to exist between sand particles and my undercarriage. I feel certain this force can somehow be harnessed for good, but at the moment all it seems to do is guarantee a mini sandstorm whenever I take my trousers off.

• And holiday food has been a revelation! How amazing are scotch eggs? They've got meat, egg and breadcrumbs - all my favourite foodstuffs - in a single, easy-to-handle package. Some poxy kid at the campsite playground tried to tell me that they were eggs laid by a chicken that hadn't wiped its bum properly but they're too num-num-num for that to put me off. I think scotch eggs are the single most important contribution those kilt-wearing, caber-tossers have made to modern society.
  

Speaking of tossers, the caravan site owner popped around yesterday for what looked to me very much like a pre-departure inspection (more evidence!). He said we wouldn't be getting any of our deposit back because of "unreasonable wear and tear" to the caravan!

I'm not saying the interior hasn't had a little bit of punishment, but if you're going to have a toilet so small that a man can get stuck in it, you've got to accept the possibility that the same man might have to smash his way out with the lid of the cistern.

To be honest, it was a complete surprise to me to learn that caravan's were designed to be used more than once. I thought you just had it for a summer then chucked it away. Surely that's why it's got wheels - so you can drag it to the tip.

Oh - hang on. Catherine's at the door with a big bag of travel sweets and some puzzle books. This could be it! Our triumphant return to civilisation. Back to a proper computer, with a proper internet connection. I'm literally salivating, which is a bit worrying. No - it's okay - I just caught a whiff of something tasty. It's a scotch egg! Mmmm... Mind you, might give it a wipe with the old kitchen roll, just in case...

Coming Catherine!

Henry VIII was (sorry, is) king of England. The second series of his online show, Henry 8.0, has been showing on the BBC Comedy website - this is the final episode. In addition, you can catch up on Henry's previous blog rants. You can also follow Henry on Twitter or like him on Facebook.

Any amateur historian with a bit of initiative and a metal detector will have discovered that That Mitchell and Webb Look is a spin off of David and Robert's radio show That Mitchell and Webb Sound. But what is less well known is that alongside the Look and the Sound we've also been working on other versions of Mitchell and Webb for the other four senses: touch, taste, smell and umami. Why? Because humankind's creativity is all that separates us from the slime on the surface of a stagnant tarn. Here's the story so far.

That Mitchell and Webb Touch

This preceded both the TV and radio show, and it took for its inspiration the ITV police drama The Gentle Touch. In it Rob played a female detective juggling the demands of her son, her career and her hair while fighting against the institutional sexism of the police in the early eighties, played by David. It all took place under a heavy tarpaulin in Chippenham, and the idea was that instead of watching the programme the audience should feel it through special holes. People called it "warm" and "surprisingly hard hitting", but the show ended midway through series two when a critic from the Spa Gazette and Herald was badly bitten on what he described as his "middle upper thigh". Neither David nor Robert have ever admitted responsibility.

That Mitchell and Webb Taste

This is a traditional thick-crusted pie containing cooked pork in a rich jelly. The pie consists of three knock out rounds where contestants have to complete a well known phrase against the clock to score points and a chance of going head to head in the "ham run" where they could win a holiday. There are some elements of the format that aren't yet working, but we're confident this will soon be available from all good bakers or on BBC Three, depending on which way we go with it.

That Mitchell and Webb Smell

This has undertones of custard with grace notes of leotard, old tweed jackets and a slightly-frightening clown (might not sound like a smell, but you'd recognise it if you inhaled it). It also contains a significant quantity of bee pheromones, so should not be smelled out doors, or near bees indoors, or if you are a bee with a restraining order. Sadly the BBC Olfactory Network doesn't yet cover all of the UK, so if you live in low-lying areas of Cornwall or the ocean-facing side of the Isle of Skye I hope you enjoy That Mitchell and Webb Smell, and do please describe it to everyone else from the rest of the country whenever they mention Freeview.

That Mitchell and Webb Umami

This is our most recent format. It's work in progress but it will probably use monster puppets voiced by David and Robert intercut with a man in a cave shouting "Why Alison, why?" but you'll just have to wait and see. Meanwhile why not add a spoonful of umami to home-made soups if you want them to taste like they came from a massive chemical plant in Beijing?

I hope you'll agree that this is an exciting range of ways to experience David and Robert, and if you don't then I don't really know what you expect me to do about it.

Finally, for the tie-break please complete in eleven words or more or less the phrase "I didn't think this was a competition because..."

Gareth Edwards is Producer of That Mitchell and Webb Look, which continues on Tuesdays at 9pm on BBC Two. Keep an eye on this blog for any news on That Mitchell and Webb Taste, Smell or Umami.

Inn Mates is the first of three comedy pilots by new writers about to be shown on BBC Three. Here, creator John Warburton tells about one tricky hurdle of sitcom writing...

"Write what you know." That's what they tell us writers. Which is all bloody good and well as long as what you know hasn't already been written.

What if you were raised in a parochial house on a deserted island and worked summers in a book shop run by an angry drunken Irishman before going on to manage a Torquay hotel.
What are you going to write about then? Because lets be honest, Father Ted, Black Books and Fawlty Towers have all beaten you to it.

Of course, sitcom writing isn't about place, it's about character. That's another bit of gold from the people who tell us to write what we know. It's good advice and it's true. Sort of. No, that's not fair. It is true. Just that... well, you try pitching a sitcom set in a smoking room or a rag and bone yard and, regardless of the characters and see how far you get.

That's how I felt writing a sitcom set in a pub. I grew up in a pub. I loved it. I loved the regulars who came in each day with news of the problems, complications or victories which defined their lives. Loved the strangers who would sit mysteriously alone, loved the groups of friends who would go silent whenever you approached. I loved the fact that every single table had its own little world made up from the people sat around it.

But the pub sitcom is something which Cheers and Early Doors had already done so well. I wanted to write what I knew. I wanted to write about the people who come to pubs. But I wanted to make it unique. Then I had an idea whilst... in a pub. How about a pub sitcom where you never saw the bar?

The idea was simple: it was set at Sunday lunchtime in a sort of low class carvery type pub, and the whole show would just be dipping into the worlds of the people who were there, learning why they were there. It would be a single camera show, taking us from table to table. Every table of people would have an issue which needed resolving before the end of the episode.

I wrote it for the BBC College of Comedy, a scheme I was very proud to be involved with and which gave me the chance to be mentored in the writing of a script and then to have it performed to an industry audience at Television Centre.

I wrote it, we read it and I was very proud of it. There were a couple of problems. Mainly the fact that there were 21 characters in the cast and that the station I aimed it at - BBC Two - didn't have any slots available this side of the heat death of the universe.

BBC Three liked it, but wanted to see more. They wanted to see if the characters could live outside of the pub as well. So they commissioned a second script.

The second script is pretty much what we filmed. Although the Brian (Neil Morrissey) and Josh (Joe Tracini) scenes were from the first script, and we had to - for reasons of time and money - lose two old ladies who sit outside in the smoking area and insult everyone. Which was a shame, because they were really good insults.

For reasons of sanity we had to lose a lot of the other characters too. So what we were left with was a group of friends coming to terms with a quarter life crisis, two PCSOs who are desperately in love but lack the courage to confront their feelings, a mad man in a wheelchair, a sexually predacious landlady and a sperm donor dad who is being emotionally blackmailed by a son he never wanted.

And you also get to see the bar.

I hope you enjoy it. It's a sitcom set in a pub.

Watch Inn Mates - immediately!

• Watch Inn Matesright now on the BBC Three Blog, a week before it's on TV!

Will Smith (the comedian) writes...



If you are married, and you write a show where you play a character going to marriage counselling who has your name, you can expect a few awkward conversations with people on the outer ring of your social circle i.e. "Everything alright with you? It's just I saw you were doing a show about a troubled marriage..."

They obviously don't know me that well. I'd never go to marriage counselling. Like anniversary presents and fresh flowers, it's a waste of money.



Sarah Hadland (who plays my fictional wife, Annabelle) was in a Bond film! She plays an airline receptionist in Quantum of Solace from whom Daniel Craig buys a ticket. He doesn't bed her though. And I'm married to her. So I win.

Paterson Joseph (our counsellor, Guy) is incredibly cool. Not just because he's in Peep Show (he plays Johnson), but because backstage he brought his own teabags and sat reading a biography of Doctor Johnson. I look forward to further surprises should we get a series, where I find him practising Aikido whilst whisking up a quiche.

Morwenna Banks (my mother-in-law, Sally) is an amazing mimic. Watching her play two characters in the same scene, one of whom was meant to sound like all European accents in one, was an absolute joy. She could do a "One Woman Complete Eastenders" live show. If she had a heart of pure evil.

Geoffrey Whitehead (my father-in-law, John) will steal any show. He is the finest purveyor of upper class bastards in the country. I get so excited writing for him. I want a series just so we can do scene after scene where he belittles me. I actually get off on it, and I don't think he'd come to my house and do it for cash.


Mr and Mrs Smith is on Tuesday at 11pm as part of BBC Radio 4's Happy Tuesdays.