Linehan slams TV writing

Father Ted writer Graham Linehan has criticised the state of TV comedy, claiming too much of it is charmless, and depends only on bad language for cheap laughs.

He singled out BBC Three for trying too hard to be risky, causing it to alienate much of its potenital audience.

In an interview with actors’ newspaper The Stage, Linehan said: ‘BBC Three wants to be a young person’s channel and they think the way to do that is to be as risky as they can.

‘It is TV that further polarises and atomises audiences. There is that kind of TV where your dad has to leave the room every ten minutes because he is too embarrassed to watch. I want to avoid that.

‘There is a way to talk about taboo subjects and adult subjects without making people feel like they need a bath. Seinfeld does it, The Simpsons does it - always in such a clever way. And that is what you should be aiming for.

‘That is what I am depressed about at the moment - the kind of charmlessness of most comedy on television.’

Linehan, who also writes The IT Crowd for Channel 4, added that comedy had got stuck in a mentality of one-upmanship, with writers and performers continuously trying to see if they could push things further and further.

He will be delivering a masterclass in comedy at next month’s MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television Festival.

Published: 9 Jul 2008