David Quantick

John Sullivan: A master of comedy - David Quantick

John Sullivan's lovable characters were both funny and rooted in reality. The world was his lobster, says David Quantick.

Sex and the Sitcom looked at the history of the sexual revolution through the lens of British sitcoms. The history is really rather tragic.

Because the most successful British characters in sitcoms are failures - like Hancock, Mainwaring, Steptoe, Fawlty and so on - you knew that there was no way that they were going to find someone to love, and those characters who were married never had it off.

Amongst the pieces of information was how 'the pill' revolutionised sitcoms. Before the invention of the pill, sitcoms were male dominated, but post-pill women had more freedom, and therefore could have more time on screen. It's a bit of a loose analysis but still interesting. Also mentioned was that during the 1970s ITV was more adventurous in covering sex and the permissive society than the BBC, with programmes like On the Buses being much more rowdy. To quote David Quantick (who was featured on the documentary), you could only have sex on ITV, 'If you had chips.'

In terms of the 1990s, perhaps the most annoying thing was the fact that the Americans were much better at covering sex in sitcoms than the British, with things such as "The Contest" episode of Seinfeld - probably the greatest single episode in American sitcom history - being shown, while in the UK one of the most complained about sitcom episodes was Christmas special of Men Behaving Badly when Caroline Quentin gets a tissue stuck to her face.

In conclusion, the series claimed that the biggest enemy against sex in sitcom is the jokes are simply not funny enough, which may explain why neither Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps nor Coming of Age were mentioned in the programme.

Bad news: Everything is dire. Good news: Satire is back

After years in the doldrums, comedy with an edge returns to the screen. Our writer David Quantick is laughing.

HQ (Saturday, Radio 2) brought the great Roy Hudd back to Radio 2 in a sketch show written by many hands among them those of his co-performer David Quantick. Quantick is a brilliant comic writer. As a performer, he has a way to go. Still, he warmed up nicely as the show went on and in the utterly unvulgar sketch where each of them played one of Nigella Lawson's breasts, overcame his awe of Hudd enough to stop reading his lines and let them bounce.

Roy Hudd and David Quantick join forces to keep the winter blues at bay. Here's a brand new sketch show full of old-fashioned fun, also starring Anita Dobson and Kevin Eldon, promising sauce and silliness. Both Hudd and Quantick have formidable reputations in this field, Hudd from all those years on this network's renowned News Huddlines (when there was a live band, a luxury only Wogan is permitted these days on his dire Sunday show) and Quantick as Radio 2's incumbent on its Blagger's Guides.

What a joy to have comic actor Roy Hudd back on Radio 2. He's joined in this new sketch show by David Quantick (The Blagger's Guide), Anita Dobson and Kevin Eldon for what we're promised will be "a half-hour of epic silliness". It's something of an inspired idea to team these two together. Self-confessed middle-aged grump Quantick, whose writing demonstrates a wonderful sense of the absurd, should prove the perfect partner for radio legend Hudd, who for 26 years kept us laughing with the excellent News Huddlines. If this is as good as that series, we're in for a treat.

David Quantick on the Milibands & decline of TV satire

David Quantick, the writer of a new More4 film about the Milibands, asks why political TV comedy is so rare.

Last of the Summer Wine: Special friends in the north

'Last of the Summer Wine' ends tomorrow. We won't see its like again, says David Quantick.

I can't decide if I like Grandma's House, Simon Amstell's venture into sitcom. Possibly because it's such an odd show.

Despite comparisons to The Royle Family, with which it shares a slightly askew view of the world and a rich vein of observational humour, the really memorable thing about Grandma's House is that we're not the only ones watching it.

With his quizzical expressions, constant commentary and general sense of being completely detached from the action, Simon Amstell seems to be watching it with us.

Just as I used to wonder why The Royle Family never turned on the television and saw themselves, I am now waiting to see Simon look up and ask his telly family: "Hey, what's that camera doing in the front room?"

Like most comedy writers, I've tried to get a sitcom on television. And, like most comedy writers, I've failed (although older viewers can find a show I co-wrote, The Junkies, on YouTube). Naturally, this makes me bitter about those who've succeeded where I haven't.

So I was very much looking forward to hating BBC4's new comedy The Great Outdoors, written by Kevin Cecil and Andy Riley (Black Books, Hyperdrive).

But much to my distress, The Great Outdoors is brilliant. Not only is it the best comedy on TV right now - not difficult as we're in a midsummer trough of trash as usual - but it has the makings of a classic.

The almost actionless adventures of a walking club might not sound thrilling. But The Great Outdoors' genius is to unfold the lives of the members over several episodes, rather than lumber them with weak dialogue and willy jokes.

This week I was moved by the plight of Bob the walk leader (played by Mark Heap, the only man to star in both Brass Eye and Lark Rise To Candleford) and the stirrings of his affection for Christine (Ruth Jones).

Heap and Jones are great but the entire cast work together and every scene - every line - combines to make this something rather special.

Rats. Now I'll have to find something new to hate.