Hut 33 on Audible.co.uk

Well, here's a strange thing. I've just been told by @ianwolf on Twitter that Hut 33 Series 2 is available to buy as a download on Audible.co.uk here. I had no idea of this, but there it is. No idea why Series 1 hasn't been released. But thought I'd pass it on.

Series 1 Repeat on BBC7

Series 1 is being re-re-repeated (!) on BBC7 on Sunday nights. Listen again here.

M*A*S*H

Some thoughts on M*A*S*H - and why it's important and inspiring - over at Sitcom Geek blog here.

A Very Bad Week in British Comedy

I've posted thoughts on why this is a bad week for British Sitcom... here.

Starring Greg Proops

I was thinking to myself the other day about Think the Unthinkable and which episode I'm most proud of (and avoiding thinking about which episode I'm ashamed of). Two or three sprang to mind - and one of them is on BBC7 and iPlayer at the moment here. It's an episode about an energy company that makes lots and lots of money and looks to good to be true. Because it is. I like to think I was one of the first to satirise notorious failed energy firms (although I hear the West End play on the subject is excellent (and stars the truly splendid Tom Goodman-Hill)).

It was a real kick recording this episode because we had secured the services of a comedian I had admired for many years - Greg Proops. I had grown up watching him excel on Who's Line is it Anyway? and we put a call in to secure him for the episode and I was thrilled when he agreed to do the show. Have a listen while it's still online...

Think the Unthinkable Series 1

... is on BBC7 again! So if you missed it, or just want to remember what seemed funny about eight years ago, have a listen here.

Miranda Hart's Jokeshop on BBC7

If you missed Miranda Hart's Jokeship on Radio 2, it's being repeated on BBC7 - includes bits you might recognise from the telly, plus other shiny jokes. It's here.

Another Case of Milton Jones - Series 4

It's now out there in the ether. Somewhere. Specifically here. Series 4 of Another Case of Milton. Few things give me more professional pride than this show. It's very much the brainchild of Milton Jones who sets the tone and produces jokes that are ludicrously funny. I'm madly running behind him, weaving together loose ends, picking up debris and shrapnel and generally trying to keep up. And then it's deliciously edited by the producer David Tyler to produce 28 minutes or so of joy. Have a listen if you can.

Cabin Pressure

If you like Hut 33, there's a good chance that you like, and possibly prefer, Cabin Pressure too. I've been trying to work out what I like about the show - and posted some thoughts on Sitcom Geek here.

How Many Episodes is Enough?

So far, I've written 18 episodes of Hut 33. And I would happily write 18 more. I'm not one of those writers who decides to stop when the show has just about found its feet and won some affection amongst its audience. Anyway, I write some thoughts about the phenomenon of getting out while the going is good on Sitcom Geek here.

The Persuasionists

I've written a review of The Persuasionists, following on from my last post. But I have decided to keep this blog about Hut 33, and closely related matters. And I've started writing about sitcom in general, and the boring mechanics of it for anoraks like me, at a new blog called Sitcom Geek here.

Watching Comedy as Comedy Writer

Whenever a new sitcom arrives on TV, I always try and watch it. I do this for a variety of reasons. The most obvious is that I'm sitcom writer myself and a bad person, and I therefore want it to fail. I then repent of this, and try to watch it without prejudice, remembering that I have more reasons to want this show to succeed. Why?

Firstly, a bad TV sitcom makes us writers all look bad. Secondly, the TV controller hates it when his/her shows attract criticism, and there is a special place in the hearts of the British people for sitcoms and slagging them off. People get really specific and offensive - especially online. They say things like "Why do the BBC makes this thing? Which executive approved this - and can their salary be taken away and given to orpans, or back to us viewers?" etc etc "This is the worst half hour I've ever spent of my life" and other such hyperboles. It's understandable. Comedy, when it doesn't quite work, is awkward and toe-curling. Even good shows are hard to watch when they go slightly awry, even for one scene) Naturally, any TV channel controller wants to avoid this, and this is, I'm sure, one reason why there are fewer and fewer sitcoms on TV. They are expensive to make (that's the other reason), so why risk wasting money and copping flack, they would think to themselves. An episode of studio sitcom costs at least £250k. You could have four antiques programmes for that money. They'd be forgettable programmes that won't make the world a better place, or even fulfill the BBC's charter, but they won't make people as angry if they don't like them. So, as a writer, I want BBC2 to have some hit comedies so that they'll want to make more of them.

Comedy is a small world, and it's quite likely that I will know the writer responsible, or will meet them at some stage. Or at least a cast member. In the case of the lastest sitcom, The Persuasionists, I happen to regularly turn up to the same cafe as one of the cast members. It really is that tenuous. But no-one likes having to lie about a show. And some of us have ethical problems with lying, so it's just easier if the show is actually good so you can say 'Hey, great show! I loved the bit with the [insert funny moment here].' And mean it. That's why I tend not to ask people I know about stuff that I do. They might not like it and would rather not say so, or lie, so it's best not to ask. Plus, there's the fact that I really don't mind if they don't like it. I wrote six episodes of My Hero - that were greatly appreciated by 5 or 6 million people on BBC1, mainly families with kids. It's that sort of show. My contemporaries are the time were graduates without kids who were into Six Feet Under - My Hero wasn't for them. If they didn't like it, I had no problem with that!

Finally, I want a sitcom that I can enjoy for myself! I await new episodes of 30 Rock with eager anticipation. I had the same experience with Arrested Development. Both are American shows, sadly. But I did get a frisson of excitement at the next episode of IT Crowd, Black Books and more recently, Gavin and Stacey (the latter of which is not, let's be fair, an out-and-out comedy, but a splendid show nonetheless).

So you may be wondering what I made of The Persuasionists, BBC2's latest comic offering that I initally wanted to fail (since I am a bad person) and then realised I wanted to succeed, not least because it contains the delightful Adam Buxton, whom I do not know, but enjoy on 6Music - and he comes across as a thoroughly pleasant human being.

But here we run into a problem - because writing up a review on blog (which remains in the ether for ever) is a bit of a risk. Dare I say anything negative, given the close-knit comedy world that I work in. And if I do only say positives, will you believe me or will you think I'm just being nice? Well, I shall give it a little more thought and post a review very shortly...

A Comedy Poll

It's a popularity contest - and that's not always a bad thing, but usually... Anyway, the chaps at Comedy.co.uk are canvassing votes for people's favourite comedies on TV and Radio. Bless them for including Radio, which is largely overlooked by almost all other awards, despite generating more comedy than TV by a country mile.

To vote, go here. In case you're curious, apart from projects of my own (if I don't vote for them, who will?) I voted for Bleak Expectations and The Thick of It among other things. (I finally got round to watching four episodes of the last series of The Thick of It on New Years Eve - which was great, albeit a considerably large dose of bad language in a short space...)

Come and hear Another Case of Milton Jones

I'm not fully in the swing of writing the Milton Jones series for Radio 4 (before downing tools for Christmas). Jokes are coming thick and fast during the meanwhilst. But I thought I would say that if you fancy being in the audience on various Sunday nights in January and February at the Drill Hall in London, I'd act fast. Tickets will be snapped up. Have a look here.

Miranda - Series 2

Last night was the final episode in the series of Miranda. Probably my favourite one after Hotel - and some real emotion too. Felt like a really good one to end on. But it doesn't end there. We have been asked to do a second series. Such fun.

In the meantime, if you really can't wait for a DVD to be released, why not pick up the CD of the Radio 2 series? It's here.

Where Do Comedians Go When They Die?

I'm currently writing a new series of Another Case of Milton Jones with the eponymous Milton Jones. Yesterday in a meeting with him and David Tyler, the producer, I laughed until I cried, which is a rather nice way to earn a living, I thought. Now I've just got to write a shed load of jokes. I love writing with Milton - not only is a thoroughly decent human being, he was a brilliant comedy brain. For my money, he is the finest joke-writer in Britain today. (Why he is not regularly on our TV screens is baffling to me.) But trying to keep up with Milton joke for joke is a real stretch for me - and I regularly fail, but it is a tremendous comedy 'work-out'.

Anyway, Milton has written a book about life as a comedian - a fictionalise account of the trials of being a jobbing comedian. And he got it published and everything. And it looks great. I hope to read a copy very soon - but for now, have a look here for a review on Chortle and here to buy it on Amazon.

Unlucky for Some

You can listen to the latest episode of Hut 33 here. It's called Unlucky for Some, and it was a very enjoyable script to write, albeit a very pressured one. The Big Machine episode took ages - and so the time I had to spend on Unlucky for Some (which I wrote last) was very short. It was an idea that I'd had for the show very very early on when considering storylines for Series 3. I considered lots of alternatives, including Mrs B telling Archie that he was going to be lucky in love, and Archie so determined to prove her wrong that he throws away a really good chance with a really lovely girl. I liked that storyline because Archie was paying the penalty for his own dogma and stubbornness - which is what you want on a sitcom. The characters have to be their own worst enemies, and sow the seeds of their own downfall. I rejected that storyline in the end, however, partly because it isn't very funny, and also because it did not bring him into conflict with Charles, which is very much the comic engine of the show.

The other reasons I was attracted to this plot was because of current discussions around science, religion and faith. Many are stridently opposed to religion because it appears to them at least to be irrational. Professor Dawkins and friends are furious that people still regard religion as important or worthwhile when, to them, there is simply no need for it. In fact, it is menace to society, they say. It seemed to me that Archie would espouse this view, since he is a Marxist and the Russian sympathiser. Stalin ran an atheistic regime (demonstrating that you don't have to be religious to destroying millions of lives, single-handedly killing more people than every crusade and the Spanish Inquisition combined).

(I hasten to add I don't agree with Archie in this. Christianity, at least, is not based on an irrational 'leap of faith' as many think. My understanding is that God comes to earth as a man and gives proof of himself, rising from the dead, so that no 'leap' is needed. But this is not the place to discuss theology.)

Charles however is religiously motivated, being a Roman Catholic, although his faith sometimes has the appearance of superstition. But maybe I would say that because I am a Protestant. The important thing, however, is that Charles' faith is believable and real. Gordon, the middle-man, would be an Anglican - in the worst sense of the word - trying to agree with everyone and be all things to all men. And Mrs B would naturally be superstitious and full of old wives tales.

And thus, Unlucky for Some was born. One of the advantages of writing the final episode of a third series is that you know who the characters are and how they would respond in any given situation. Take the subject of superstition and you immediately have attitudes from the characters forming in your mind. The trick of writing is to hear those characters talking to each other and trying and keep up with the voices in your head...

JRR Tolkein

I should have spotted this before but this is rather juicy. I suppose it makes complete sense. Tolkein was an expert linguist and philologist, so an obvious candidate for codebreaking. Gives me an idea for a show...

The Big Machine

Episode 2 of Series 3 is now on iPlayer here if you want to have a listen.

The episode is about machinery and early computers so, as you can imagine, there are lots of jokes about computers and IT. Lots and lots has been written on this subject and I have waded through much technical data in the last few years as I've written this show and the novel Crossword Ends in Violence (5) (available here). I read a book about Colossus by Paul Gannon, large parts of which I had to skim since they were extremely technical. I didn't much enjoy the book, but I was very glad that someone had bothered to write it. But it did teach me about the astonishing technical achievements achieved under such pressure.

Turing naturally gets much retrospective credit in all of this - and rightly so. His brain was a very rare thing indeed. He vastly improved the Bombe, building on the achievements of the largely forgotten Pole, Marian Rejewski who first cracked Enigma in 1932 (thanks in part to some splendid espionage by a Frenchman). But often overlooked is Max Newman and Tommy Flowers who were largely responsible for the amazing Colossus.

The machine invented by Gordon, and streamline by Archie, in this episode is an arbitrary one, designed to automate the process of trying to drag a crib through the text and spot links (since the Enigma machine never encoded a letter as itself) - it's getting boringly technical now, isn't it? This is what I'm up against, you see, writing an audience comedy show set at Bletchley Park.

I had a lot of fun writing it although, for some reason, this took the longest to write by far, going through several drafts. One of the problems stemmed from the dilemma the characters find themselves towards the end of the show. I don't want to spoil the plot, so I won't (I hope). But the machine that is created obviously has ramifications - but to suggest that our heroes would do something as malicious and self-serving as sabotage it is unthinkable. Still, our characters are feckless and petty, so nothing is beyond them. Naturally, they are nothing like the hardworking folk who laboured away at Bletchley for real - it's just a sitcom, remember... (In the same way, the German occupation of France did not resemble the goings-on of Allo Allo). Hope you enjoy this one.

Episode 1 - Know Thine Enemy on iPlayer

For the next week, you can listen to Episode 1 of Series 3 of Hut 33 on iPlayer - here. This episode is actually about codebreaking, which sounds obvious given the premise of the sitcom, but it much harder to do that you might think. I've had one or two people quite indignant that, as a sitcom, we don't concentrate on the codebreaking anywhere near enough. Of course, sitcoms are about characters and people, not ideas. Hut 33 is not about the war - well, it is. It's about class war. It's about the clash of world-views between Archie, the common man, whose time is coming, and Charles, the posh don, whose time is passing. Gordon is stuck in between as the peace-maker. And the war is what pushes this unlikely trio together, as was the case in the war. It is often given as the reason for Churchill's astonishing defeat after the war; Britain, for the first time, really saw how the other half lived, and they didn't like it. Anyway, hope you enjoy the episode.