Graham Linehan

Graham Linehan on writing sketch 'runners'

I was asked recently to turn a sketch I had written into a 'runner' (a sketch that returns weekly featuring the same characters / situation / catchphrase). I didn't think the idea had legs, so I said no, but I have other, more complicated reasons that I've been thinking about for a while now, and I thought maybe I should set them down in case anyone finds them useful.

Can tweeting make comedians wittier?

The 140-character limit on Twitter allows comedy writers like Peter Serafinowicz and Graham Linehan to hone their skills.

Graham Linehan's comedies are wonderfully surreal and self-evidently funny, but it's the warm-heartedness at the heart of Father Ted, Black Books and The IT Crowd that makes them endlessly rewatchable. Of course, it's a quality that makes them a sound choice at this time of recumbent vegetation, and so here More4 does the decent thing and not only screens Black Books - the demented Dylan Moran/Bill Bailey-starring series about despotic bookshop proprietor Bernard Black - but also follows it up with episodes from Linehan's other offerings. More enjoyable madness follows tomorrow.

I like Charlie Brooker, I like Dara O'Briain and I like Graham Linehan. If those three can't persuade me to take an interest in computer games, nobody can. All three contributed to Gameswipe, a helpful guide to the computer game, with Brooker as host.

Brooker was his usual grumpy, caustic, brilliant self, but the subject matter just left me cold. The show helpfully introduced the uninitiated to the various categories of game available - platform, shoot 'em up, role play, combat - and provided a brief history of each. By far the best bits featured archive clips of anxious teachers, concerned parents and fretful community leaders getting all hot under the collar at the latest screen outrage, of which there have been many over the years.

But even with sumptuously realised and immaculately detailed graphics, the games under review appeared infantile and repetitive. Especially the modern shoot 'em ups, which have somehow contrived to make the act of mass murder appear very dull indeed.

Following in the footsteps of Screenwipe, Charlie Brooker's new show - you guessed it - aims its remote at the world of videogames. Whether you're a gamer hater or lover, Gameswipe - part of the Electric Revolution season on BBC4 - shows how games can be just as dumb or brilliant as TV and movies. And Charlie certainly knows what he's talking about, having spent his early career causing mayhem at PC Zone. Graham Linehan, Dara O'Briain and Dom Joly are on hand to join in the pixellated fun.

Was I too hasty about The IT Crowd?

For two years straight, I gave The IT Crowd worst show of the year. I only judged it so harshly because I expected so much. I mean, it was written by Graham Linehan and I love him. I probably shouldn't tell you this... it's probably bad journalistic form or something... but I think it'll make you laugh.

Episode 3.5 Review

The penultimate episode of this much-improved third season is sadly its weakest. The idea of satirising social networking sites is rich ground for comedy, but nothing is taken to any particularly original directions by writer Graham Linehan.

Whenever he appears, playboy boss Douglas Reynholm threatens to take over this sitcom and make it his. Matt Berry's barnstorming performance as Douglas is entirely in tune with Graham Linehan's writing: it's daft but so confidently, riotously daft that you can't help wanting to know where it leads. If there's a drawback, it's that Linehan's ideas can be more brilliant than his plotting.

Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe took time off from spewing cheery vitriol across the television schedules to interview writers about the craft of writing.

These were clearly writers that Brooker admired, so his interview technique was disconcertingly sympathetic. The end result was a masterclass from such luminaries as Russell T Davies, Paul Abbott, Tony Jordan and Graham Linehan. All of whom spoke wittily and winningly about the combination of prevarication, panic and perspiration that produces a television script.

Ironically, the most pertinent point of a fascinating 50 minutes was made by a writer who wasn't even present. Abbott quoted Jimmy McGovern on the ever prickly problem of presenting exposition in dialogue: 'I would rather be confused for ten minutes than bored for five seconds.'

In praise of the nerdiest of computer nerds

Graham Linehan's brilliant sitcom The IT Crowd, set in the computer support department of a large corporation, has just waltzed off with the International Emmy award for best comedy. Since it first booted up on Channel 4 in 2006, the show has gradually gained the respect and affection of critics and fans alike.