'Seven Reasons Why Fishbowl Is Great And I Can't Take the Credit'... By The Man Who Wrote It
Published: Friday 10th July 2015
My name's Andrew Mettam and I wrote Fishbowl. I'm massively proud of how it turned out. It's funny, odd, lovely, warm and a little bit unexpected. But I really can't take all the credit for that. And here's why in seven, internet-attention-span-friendly reasons.
1. The Exec Producer Who Actually Got It Commissioned
Sure I wrote 'a' script about Hattie, a girl who - having comprehensively screwed up her first term of university - finds herself brought back to Wetherby by her parents and trapped in the curtain-twitching intimacy of Yorkshire suburbia. But that wasn't the script that ended up on screen. That was the script that got Simon Wilson over at Bwark interested. It was Simon's superb notes and suggestions that helped tightened that script up and get it commissioned as a Comedy Feed.
2. The Director Who Shot It
Fishbowl is set in a cul-de-sac, with a gate at the end (it was nearly called Cul-de-Sac until it was pointed out to me that Cul-de-Sac isn't a very good name for a sitcom). Right up until filming started we hadn't managed to find a cul-de-sac with a gate at the end. Which was a problem, as we had a pivotal scene involving Hattie climbing over the gate.
At the last minute we got offered a gate. It wasn't at the end of a cul-de-sac, you couldn't climb over it and we only had it for a couple of hours. Our Director Tom Marshall not only shot the scene in this new location, he did it with minimal crew, at eight in the morning and added a brilliant visual gag which wasn't in the script. A good Director won't just inspire the cast, whip up the crew and get stuff done on time... If they're as good as Tom, they'll also find loads of funny bits in the script you never even knew were there. And look good doing it.
3. The Cast Being Awesome
Fishbowl's cast is embarrassingly good. Sally Lindsay was utterly loveable as Hattie's heartwarmingly neurotic mum Ramona. Mark Benton walked that fine line between hen-pecked and hilarious as Hattie's dad Phil. Michael Smiley mixed seething menace with perfect comic delivery as Uncle Les and, while we only had Felicity Montagu for the one scene, she managed to wring comedy out of every single line as interfering neighbour Joy.
There's a reason you see this lot on telly all the time. They are frighteningly good at what they do and lovely with it. You give a good actor a sitcom script and you get funny. You give a funny actor a sitcom script and suddenly whatever it is you wrote becomes something far more nuanced, comic and believable than you could ever have imagined.
4. Katherine Rose Morley Absolutely Nailing Hattie
When she was getting her costume fitted, Katherine Rose Morley suggested that Hattie should have a nose ring. In the first minute of Fishbowl we meet Hattie's nervously middle age parents and hear her increasingly frantic phone calls home detailing the descent from youthful experimentation into full scale disaster. And then there's a close up shot of Hattie sulking in the backseat of the car and we see her nose ring. A little bit of prop jewellery that tells you everything you need to know about Hattie, where she came from and what went wrong.
When the lead actress has immersed herself in her character to the extent that she knows her better than the bloke who wrote the script you know things are bang on track.
5. Edward Ashley Being Quite Brilliant
The other younger character was Vincent who was written as a blob-like, northern man-child. Until tall, angular, irresistibly awkward Edward Ashley auditioned for the part. His performance was nothing like I intended. He looked completely wrong and he kept adlibbing over my lines. He got the gig, made it his own and then suggested a bunch of stuff which wasn't in the script, convinced us to shoot it and made it work brilliantly.
6. The Prop Department Applying Practical Know-How to Dumb Gags
When I wrote the line "God I love bears" I had no idea just how far the prop department would go to show that love on screen. Keep your eyes peeled in Uncle Les' house and you'll see what I mean. From ursine artwork to the logistics of chucking a giant cake into a tiny pedal bin, the prop department didn't just make my stage directions live and breathe on screen they applied a level of creativity, cunning and basic DIY common sense that I as a mere writer couldn't possibly hope to match.
7. Everyone Else
You may have detected a theme here. Sure, I wrote a good script but I couldn't have dressed the characters as well as the wardrobe department did. I couldn't have framed the shots like the Director Of Photography or kept track of it all like the Script Supervisor. I definitely couldn't have graded the footage and edited it together like the Editor did (as a result of the edit we rewrote the first minute or so. And it was much better for it). And I definitely couldn't have held it all together like our unflappably capable Producer.
So what did I do apart from write the thing? I turned up on set, ate as much catering as I could, got really cold and enjoyed watching what happens when a bunch of professionals get together and make a sitcom. I think they did a really good job (OK, I'll admit it, I am biased). Decide for yourself when Fishbowl goes live on the iPlayer on Monday 13th July 2015.
Fishbowl is now on BBC iPlayer. It'll be shown on BBC Three later in the year.
After working as a BAFTA and Rose D'Or nominated producer, Andrew Mettam packed it in to write full time, working with companies such as Warp, Carnival, Company and the BBC on a variety of drama and comedy projects. Andrew's currently writing for EastEnders and has recently written two episodes of upcoming BBC Two sitcom Boy Meets Girl, as well as having several of his own projects in development. @mettamandrew