Graham Linehan. He’s one of the most famous sitcom writers out there, and certainly one of the most prolific currently working in the UK. But that’s not the only string to Linehan’s bow. If he’s not writing and collaborating on yet another new series (he has two currently on the go – Count Arthur Strong and The Walshes), he’s directing, or he’s writing for the stage, or writing for various news outlets, or spending his time on Twitter. Given that he’s one of the most successful Irish people working in television today, today is a perfect time to take a look at the man and his work.
But it was when they sent sketches to the producers of Alias Smith and Jones that their writing career took off. Sharing a flat in London, they wrote sketches for comedians such as Alexei Sayle, Harry Enfield and Steve Coogan, as well as creating the characters of Ted and Ralph for The Fast Show. Meanwhile, they were also writing sitcoms of their own. First among these, in 1994, was the short-lived Paris, a comedy starring Alexei Sayle, about a French artist living in 1920s Paris. Highly stylised and not a hit with viewers or critics, Paris lasted for just six episodes.
But Mathews and Linehan had also been working on other ideas, one of which would become Father Ted. Running from 1995-1998, Father Ted would become their most successful collaboration. It was a show about three priests and their housekeeper who lived in a remote island parish. Usually bizarre and always hilarious, the sitcom won its creators two BAFTAs for Best Comedy Series.
That’s precisely what happens in Linehan’s other most famous collaboration. After the first series of Big Train, Mathews went to write a series called Hippies, while Linehan worked with Dylan Moran on the first series of Black Books. But after all these years of working with another writer, Linehan was keen to see if he could create a successful series by himself. The result was The IT Crowd, which began airing in 2006. It was a reaction against the mockumentaries so popular at the time, a return to the studio comedies that were seen as uncool. Directing all of the episodes himself gave Linehan creative control over every aspect, with the studio recordings allowing a long rehearsal time to improve on the scripts.
But Linehan hasn’t just stuck to screenwriting in recent years. In 2011, he adapted the Ealing comedy film The Ladykillers into a stage play which ran in London’s West End and went on a nationwide tour. While the play was a success, it also led to Linehan’s long-running dispute with the Today Programme. He was invited on the show to, he believed, talk about the difficulties of adapting screen to stage. Instead, he was ambushed with an argument about whether films should be adapted for stage at all.
Linehan’s work gets a lot of critical acclaim, although reviews sometimes talk in sneering terms about the “canned laughter” nature of his shows. This shows a lack of knowledge on the part of the reviewers, and a certain desperation to think that shows made in the traditional way are passé. Linehan’s shows are old-fashioned, but that’s not to say they’re boring. He doesn’t rely on the cheap laughs of a dirty joke, or on swearing for shock value. Instead, there’s a sense of whimsy to his characters and jokes. There’s no maliciousness, no sense that anyone is being mocked. And this seems to be true of the man himself – he’s one of the most prolific users of Twitter out there, but it’s rare that he uses it to get into an argument with his detractors. Instead, he asks questions, retweets useful responses, and shares news stories he finds important that aren’t in mainstream media. In both work and private life, Linehan seems to be a genuinely nice guy, and what’s more, a funny one. Long may his success continue.