Blog posts by year and monthJune 2010
Posts (16)
Writing Reunited was an easy job, but just don't ask Ed Byrne to play squash
The idea of Reunited was given to me by an Australian friend who'd recently been invited to the reunion of a house-share he'd been a part of. I could immediately see the potential for writing a comedy drama - the idea of former friends with a shared history but whose lives have gone off in d...
Disappearing Dad: is fiction better off without fathers?
When I had the chance to write and present the documentary Disappearing Dad, about fathers in fiction, I immediately knew which way I wanted to go. I had just been trying to invent a plot for a novel, and I'd been thinking it would be useful if the villain of the piece had been psychological...
My Glastonbury 2010 experience from behind the scenes
Driving away from Glastonbury, I always find a really emotional moment. None more so than this weekend as Stevie Wonder utterly captivated the thousands of festival goers who had gone the distance and had a stupendous weekend. I love Glastonbury for so many reasons and it really is unlike an...
Olivia Colman: Vicar's wife in Tom Hollander's Rev
Rev is a new six-part sitcom for BBC Two, written by James Wood and co-created with In The Loop star Tom Hollander. Tom plays Adam, a country vicar who's relocated to a parish in inner-city London, while Olivia Colman plays his solicitor wife, Alex. Olivia talked to me just after she'd watche...
Lennon Naked: Getting under the skin of John Lennon
I stick to a routine when it comes to writing. I can't write in a café or a park. I get to my desk around nine and set myself a target for the number of pages to get done in a day. At the place where I work they take the mickey out of me for always making coffee at exactly 11 o'clock. It's l...
Puppets, sex and Paul Kaye: The birth of Mongrels
When asked to describe Mongrels, as I often am by bemused people at parties who've been told I work 'with puppets' and who are humouring me, I normally say, "It's an adult puppet comedy show." This inevitably makes them ask about the puppets: How big are they? Have you met Kermit? Then they ...
The craft of making Being Human and Later With Jools Holland in High Definition TV
As any of you who has bought a High Definition (HD) television - or just read the claims about them - will know, HD can give you five times more detail in your television picture. Most of us don't watch standard definition TV and notice the absence of all that detail, but it is true that wa...
Fatherhood season: Celebrating dads through time
I remember the day my father died. I was suddenly aware that there was no ceiling above me, just the heavens, and I realised that I too would someday die. Not the cheeriest start to your Father's Day reading and it gets bleaker before (I promise) some sunshine. I then had to go to Germany to ...
Battle Of Britain season: What's on BBC TV
As commissioning editor for BBC History, I get to choose many of the great history programmes that make it to your screens - everything from Victorian Farm and Who Do You Think You Are? to History Cold Case and Empire of the Seas. We have just put together a short film here of the history hig...
Laura's documentary continues BBC Three's tradition of thought-provoking shows
I was surprised to read the stories in the press over the weekend regarding the documentary we are making with a young girl call called Laura Hall on excessive alcohol intake. The documentary will tell the story of Laura, who has been drinking too much and has received an ASBO related to her ...
