Laurence Howarth

There's bias among our writers, admits BBC satirist

The script editor of Radio 4's Dead Ringers has admitted there may be an inherent anti-Brexit bias in the satirical show.

Share this page Dead Ringers: Writing the referendum

With the referendum, the resignation of David Cameron, the installation of a new PM and a Labour leadership challenge, Radio 4's topical impressions show Dead Ringers has been on air through arguably the most turbulent period British politics has seen in a generation. As they put together the final episode of the series, producer Bill Dare and script editor Laurence Howarth reflect on reacting to the changing news, every Friday at 6.30pm.

This is no ordinary sitcom. Laurence Howarth's likeable hero is Simon (played by Darren Boyd) an arms dealer. He's a nice man who always tries to see the other side of any argument and whom luck, or perhaps even a higher power, preserves. A big American arms firm, the best in the world, the most ubiquitous, the McDonald's of munitions, enters the takeover market. So he puts in for redundancy from his own employer, expecting a payout, longing for the day when he can give it all up and write music. Fate, however, has other plans. First of four episodes.

Garry Richardson was last week declared by a listener to Today to be the real Alan Partridge, which is a bit unfair to all the other sports reporters who must have gone into the making of Steve Coogan's fictional broadcaster. And yet, and yet... There's something about Garry's hosting of this sports 'n' jokes show which might well mark him out as chief contender for the Partridge crown. Joining him to fling wisecracks at the World Cup and all else sporting are writer-performers Laurence Howarth, Richie Webb and Dave (the voice of Come Dine with Me) Lamb.

Laurence Howarth on Causing Offence

Safety Catch writer Laurence Howarth talks about the complaints the first series attracted.

New comic ground was broken with Laurence Howarth's Safety Catch.

The studio audience for Safety Catch adds a level of intended unease. This is a sitcom about an arms trader.

He's called Simon, there's much about him that's likeable, he's only doing this to pay the bills for six months or so, then he's going back to his first love, electronic music (a crime almost as heinous to some ears as selling machine-guns to the Gambia).

It is by Laurence Howarth and is clearly and deeply ironic, challenging attitudes, hypocrisies and the little lies of everyday life. He's done it as a sitcom, I presume, to disguise its anger. The audience laughs, although sometimes a sudden shocked silence shows Howarth is reaching the people in the hall.