TIP 1: SIMPLY FUNNY

Most of the best comedy ideas are simple. "A very rude man runs a hotel." Or "a likeable rogue in prison always gets the better of the authorities." Sometimes the idea is so strong and simple that the title says it all, like "The 40 Year Old Virgin." Here's a test: if you can't describe your comedy idea in 15 words or less, it's probably too complicated.

Simple set-up, complex development

This doesn't mean characters and stories can't be complex. But the SET-UP is simple. The plots of many restoration comedies are fiendishly convoluted, but are based on a simple proposition. In 'The Country Wife', a notorious rake convinces other men he's impotent so they trust him with their wives - a simple idea - but the plot that develops is labyrinthine.

And some of the most interesting characters in TV sitcom are found in the simplest set-ups, and can be summed up in a few words: "a warring father and son run a scrap business." (Steptoe and Son). Sometimes it's as simple as "two feisty girls share a flat." (The Liver Birds) but the writing, especially of character, can be very sophisticated.

Choose your target

Let's say you have an idea for a sitcom about a young guy who works in a butcher's shop next door to a florist's which employs a young woman he fancies - and she's a vegetarian. Okay, that's a nice, simple idea. "But wait," you think, "maybe I can make more of this." What if the young guy's boss is having problems with animal rights militants? And maybe he's on the local council, and he tries to get the militants evicted from their squat, so we get the whole small-town local politics angle, and... Stop. That's another sitcom. Make your main idea work, then think about what the secondary characters do to support the main story, not to compete with it. Aim at two targets and you won't hit either.

Ring one bell at a time

Simplicity applies across the board. If you're writing a topical satirical sketch about two politicians who are arguing you might write them as kids in a playground, because they're being childish. That's fine. But if you also try to use the sketch to make a point about, say, global warming, you risk diluting the impact or even confusing the audience. The principle also applies to individual jokes: if the set-up to a gag is complicated and takes a long time, then the pay-off had better be worth it. You're aiming for laughs, not groans. And if the gag is trying to be funny about two different things it probably won't work.

Comedy is simple. But it's not easy

Writing comedy is a very specific skill, and it can be learned. The Euroscript Comedy Writing Weekend workshop teaches you the basics of the craft with practical exercises that help you to locate and develop the comedy muscles you can use to raise a laugh.

TIP 2: WRITE GREAT SITCOM 'B' CHARACTERS

Think of some great sitcoms. Fawlty Towers. Absolutely Fabulous. Peep Show. All based around great characters: Basil Fawlty, Patsy and Edina, Mark and Jeremy.

Now think of Basil without Manuel, Patsy and Edina without Saffron, Mark and Jeremy without Super Hans. What would happen? Those sitcoms would lose more than just a secondary character, they'd lose a vital part of what makes them special.

The right B character can make a sitcom a classic

B characters aren't as complex as the main characters, in fact they're usually stereotypes, but they play a vital role in the way they interact with the main characters.

Why are B characters so important?

When the B characters show up in a sitcom something changes. B characters always behave the same way - but they change the way the main characters behave.

How do B characters change the behaviour of the main characters?

The B characters are often like cartoon versions of the A characters. They're like an exaggerated offspring of one quality in a main character. They can represent exactly what the A characters don't like - about themselves. They reflect them in a distorting mirror.

In 'Will and Grace' Jack is exactly the kind of flamboyantly camp gay man that Will would dread to be seen as. Yet Will knows there's a side of him that could be like that. And Karen is the type of crazy, raddled New York fashionista that Grace suspects she could become if she just let things slip a bit and let one aspect of herself out of the cage.

Sid James was the perfect side-kick for Tony Hancock, the lower-middle class snob, because he showed Hancock everything he was trying not to be, and often lured him into betraying himself - or taking such pains not to betray himself that he became ludicrous.

How to create a B character

Pinpoint the quality that the A character most hates about themselves. Create a B character who embodies this quality. Write some dialogue in which the B character offers advice - like the A character's bad angel, luring them to betray themselves or to react against the B character's attitude so strongly that comic tension or conflict is created.

Now you've got the makings of  a B character - and now you can start to play, because:

B Characters are a lot of fun!