Georgia Pritchett is a multi-award-winning comedy and drama writer who has five Emmys, five Writers Guild awards, a Golden Globe, a Producer’s Guild award and a BAFTA. She was a writer and co-executive producer on HBO's critically acclaimed shows Succession and Veep and show-runner for The Shrink Next Door. Georgia has written extensively for Miranda Hart and Tracy Ullman and the shows Have I Got News for You, Smack the Pony, Not Going Out and The Thick of It. She created, wrote and show-ran 2DTV for ITV as well as Quick Cuts, Feel The Force and BBC's Life of Riley. Her memoir My Mess is a Bit of a Life was released in the summer of 2021 to rave reviews.

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I am looking for character driven comedy that is not scared to be serious and dark but also makes me laugh out loud.

Athena Kugblenu is a stand up comedian and writer, the recipient of the Felix Dexter Bursary and member of the BBC Comedy Room. She writes all kinds of comedy for all kinds of shows (The News Quiz, The Now Show, Russell Howard Hour, New World Order, Mock The Week, The Lenny Henry Show, Sketchtopia, Dead Ringers, The Weakest Link, Blankety Blank, Odd Squad, Jo Jo and Gran Gran...). She has her own Radio 4 special, Magnifying Class and her own Radio 4 series, Cancel Culture.

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In a script, I look for characters. If I love the characters and they have been given so much thought they jump off the page like they are real people, that wins me over.

Lucy Lumsden is an award-winning director and the Managing Director of Yellow Door Productions. She is the former Controller of Comedy Commissioning for the BBC and former Head of Comedy for Sky. 

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What I look for in a script: something, anything, anyone that surprises me, tickles me and gets me off the giggle step in the first couple of pages so that reading on is a total pleasure. That all-important great first impression comes from confidence in establishing characters and relationships that we are going to care about. Crack that and the rest will follow.

Sioned Wiliam is a BAFTA-nominated and multi-award-winning producer with over 30 years of experience in comedy, drama and light entertainment. She is the former Controller of Comedy for the ITV network and the former Commissioning Editor for Comedy for BBC Radio 4.

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Try and think of a flexible backdrop to your show that allows a lot of scenarios for your characters. People often choose workplaces or family backgrounds because they allow for a range of character based stories. But see if you can find an interesting version of these that we haven’t seen before. Look for a range of characters with varying dynamics who can offer up a lot of different experiences and interactions. This can be a small but interesting group like say Frasier, Niles, Daphne, Ros and Martin or a larger ‘gang show like Dad’s Army.