Tuesday, 26 September 2006
Cast read through today, we all assembled in a conference room at the
hotel were some of the actors are staying. It was quite bizarre to see
all these amazing actors out in Spain… it’s really happened, ITV are
really making the show I’ve written… it was quite a surreal moment. As I
sat down I suddenly thought to myself, what if nobody laughs? It’s
meant to be a comedy… but what if nobody laughs? Maybe they won’t laugh
through nerves, maybe they won’t laugh because it’s not that funny,
actually I don’t care about the reason, it’s supposed to be a comedy but
what if nobody fucking laughs??!!! Everyone settled down and there
were short welcome speeches from producer Geoffrey Perkins and head of
ITV comedy Paul Jackson. I felt sick and daren’t look up… oh my god,
what if I laugh?? I can’t laugh at something I’ve bloody written
(especially if no fucker else does); even though I’ve written a show
that makes me laugh (why else would I bother) I can’t be seen to be
laughing at it in public… All these mad thoughts ran through my mind as
we started the read. We read all six episodes with a few breaks for
coffee and cakes out on the terrace in the blazing Spanish sun. The
cast laughed, people from ITV laughed, the director laughed, the
producer laughed and yes, sadly enough, I laughed. Although the joy of
laughing at the way the lines were delivered by our brilliant cast
rather than the lines themselves kind of made it OK (in my mind anyway).
