Bob Larbey

1) Do you have a particular method of finding new story ideas for episodes?

No particular method at all. John and I always used to write a very detailed story-line before starting on the script. When I write alone, I tend to think of a broad subject, a good ending and then start to write the script - a sort of "so what happens next?" theory!

If there is a golden rule to finding new stories, I think it's this: try to think of a story which is absolutely right for your characters - don't impose a story on them like the hoary old "everyone gets stuck in a lift". Try to think of a story which is really relevant to your characters and which shows their best or worse sides.

Good plots should be absolutey relevant to the characters you have created - plots which allow them to be at their funniest and most truthful. Never ask your characters to act against character - you may get laughs in the short term but the viewing audience will soon cotton on to the fact that they are watching cardboard cut-outs and not the believable characters they will really warm to.

2) What are the advantages and disadvantages of working with a partner?

There are lots of advantages to working with a partner. There is the companionship, someone to bounce ideas off and, perhaps best of all, someone to laugh (or not) at what you think is a funny line. The disadvantages are that, however much you share a sense of humour, moments arise when you disagree about a plot development or certain lines. There is no way to solve this except to compromise, possibly leaving both of you with a feeling of disappointment.

In short, writing with a partner is noisier and probably more fun. Writing on your own is usually quieter, usually faster and does have the somewhat dubious pleasure of knowing that it is all your idea. On the other hand, if it's no good there's no-one else to blame.

3) Did the characters in Ever Decreasing Circles change from your original conception?

I don't think the characters changed very much from our original conception - except the natural development which happens through a number of episodes.

When you first create characters, you think a lot about them of course, but you never know everything about them, so when you have an idea for a story - say a dance - you have to work out whether your characters like to dance and, if so, how they dance. I don't suppose you'd covered that eventuality when you first invented them.

You start with a drawing I suppose, and then colour it in if the series runs, but try never to make your characters act out of character, even if it sounds funny. One of the most adverse criticisms a viewer can make is that "so and so would never do that!"

4) Why do you think The Good Life and Ever Decreasing Circles can be repeated so many years later and still not be dated?

This has to be a fairly immodest answer because the quality of the scripts had to be high, but in both series we were blessed with wonderful casts.

In both series we also created characters which people seemed to associate with and basically like. If you can persuade a viewing audience to actually care about what happens to Tom Good or Martin Bryce you're half-way to writing a "stayer".

As to not dating, I suppose both series were not "trendy" so a Tom or Martin could still live next door today - if you ignore the flared trousers.

5) What are your experiences of the differences in writing for the BBC and ITV?

The biggest differences is the length of script. A BBC script is 28 minutes 30 seconds long - an ITV script, allowing for commercial breaks, is 24 minutes 30 seconds - those four minutes make quite a difference in developing a story.

With an ITV script you also have to have a cliff-hanger before the commercial break, whether the story needs or not - in case the viewers switch over when the commercials are on!

Unfortunately, these days there is only one ITV outlet. In our days, the companies were independent of each other and would fight their corner for an idea they liked. "Get Some In" for example was turned down by LWT so we popped along to Thames that same afternoon and sold it to them!

ITV are also more ratings driven than the BBC, so high viewing figures are necessary from the start. The BBC are, or were, more willing to persist with an idea they believed in, regardless of a slow start in viewing figures. If they hadn't been, 'The Good Life' would never have got to a second series.

6) How did you and John Esmonde meet?

John and I met at the same Grammar School in South London. We shared an interest in football and humour. We met up again after two years National Service - played football for the Old Boys and still made each other (sometimes others) laugh.

Office jobs did nothing for us and not a lot for our employers so, rather like Tom Good, we looked for a way out. We chose comedy writing instead of self-sufficiency and used all our spare time sending stuff here there and everywhere. All of it was turned down of course, but we stuck with it and some four years later sold our first comedy sketch to BBC radio.

Then we were offered a radio series and on the strength of the huge sums offered (enough to keep us going for three months) took the plunge and left work. Luckily the gamble paid off and we managed to keep our heads above water until LWT commissioned our first television series, 'Please Sir' in 1968.

Being friends before we became partners was, I'm sure, a great bonus.

7) What is your comment on suggestions that Ann should have run away with Paul in 'Ever Decreasing Circles'?

Should Ann have run away with Paul? Well, we did build in a sexual frisson here and there, but on the whole my answer would be "no". Reasons? Ann did love Martin for all his faults, knowing that he loved her and realising that, for all his troubles with life not doing what he told it to do, he was a genuinely good man.

You may remember an episode in which Martin suspected that Ann had fallen for Paul. His response was to leave the way clear for them. Fool or Saint? Maybe a bit of both! Paul may have been attractive and wealthy but was also a bit feckless. Martin, for all the hysteria he produced, was Ann's rock - someone who would never hurt her or let her down. Mind you, if Ann had met Paul first...

8) In 'As Time Goes By' there was some reference to American production methods when Lionel's book is adapted, is that based on personal experience?

John and I did have some weird experiences in America, mostly trying to "pitch" our comedies as possibilities for adaptation by their networks. The hype was enormous with words like "brilliant" flying about, but the result was always the same i.e. nothing.

I remember those meetings between us and the company involved and the big boys, the Networks. There seemed to be a competition as to how big a team you could turn up with. I remember one meeting with twelve of us and fourteen of them - no wonder little sense ever came out of them. The best example was when NBC showed interest in 'The Good Life' but then asked us if we could do it without the self-sufficiency!

9) Do you have a checklist you go through to check if a sitcom idea is viable or not?

I've never used a formal check-list to check whether or not a sitcom idea is viable or not. The danger in making such a formal list is that you would make it far too long and add all sorts of unwritten rules which, in the end, would prove to be inhibiting - and rules applied to sitcoms are only there to be broken one way or another.

I have only two criteria in trying to think up a new idea: will the idea stay funny for more than a few episodes and do I think it's funny in the first place?

10) Which sitcom writers do you admire most and why?

My first sitcom writer heroes were Galton and Simpson. When they wrote 'Steptoe and Son' they opened up a new area of comedy for all of us. Suddenly there was real drama and real conflict mixed in with the comedy. I don't think the relationship between the older and younger Steptoe has ever been equalled.

They also opened the way to attract really good actors to sitcom by creating characters who had to be acted as opposed to simply delivering funny lines.

11) What do you see as the biggest barriers to creating successful comedy in Britain today?

These are only my personal opinions but I suppose that's what you're asking for anyway!

The biggest barrier to creating successful comedy today is that the lines of communication between writers and programme-makers seem to get longer and longer and it seems to take several committees to make up their mind about an idea... In the days of 'The Good Life' the Head of Comedy would approve (or not) an idea and the BBC would go with it. Those one-man decisions produced a stream of great comedies. The trouble with committee decisions is that everyone has his or her say and the result is often a mish-mash of the original idea.

Another problem is the growing tendency of the television companies to look for vehicles for what they believe to be stars. Call me old fashioned but I believe that a good script comes first and then you find the right actors for the roles.

Finally, the fact that all the ITV companies are unable to create their own shows but must submit them to a single outlet naturally narrows the options for writers. The result? Well how many really good ITV comedies can you think of?

Sorry, there is another "finally". Comedy departments are developing a disturbing tendency to have pre-conceived ideas of what makes good comedy. "It needs this and this and this and that". Total nonsense! If anyone really knew the formula, there would never be a bad sit-com. Trust the writers, that's what I say!

12) Do you have any advice for aspiring comedy writers?

Always write what makes you laugh first. If you don't think it's funny, nobody else will! Don't get discouraged too soon - rejection letters make great wallpaper. Never look at the good comedies and think that's what's needed. What's needed is the next original idea. Good luck to all of you and may the next great idea be yours!