British Comedy Guide

Bosses, strivers, fools and foils: Getting the character dynamic right in your script

Blackadder. Image shows left to right: Baldrick (Tony Robinson), General Melchett (Stephen Fry), Captain Kevin Darling (Tim McInnerny), Captain Edmund Blackadder (Rowan Atkinson). Credit: BBC

The relationships between your characters is absolutely central to your sitcom or comedy drama script. Get the dynamic between your central characters right and they will naturally be an engine for comedic situations and stories.

There are many models of comedy characters that you can draw on, and I have one of my own to offer. I've used it for years with writers I'm coaching and mentoring - and it works! My starting point when creating this model was noticing that there is a particular dynamic between characters that occurs over and over again in comedy; it's close to being...

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Chris's book Creating Comedy Narratives For Stage And Screen is available now.

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