ABC: Art, Biodiversity and Collaboration
And a look inside the Galton & Simpson archives.
Last week I journeyed to York to take part in ABC: Art, Biodiversity and Collaboration, a panel discussion organised by Fieldwork co-conspirator, Prof Pen Holland, as part of the University of York's Festival of Ideas.
The event was fabulous – a suite of fascinating talks from artists, scientists and artist-scientists about the way that ecology and the natural world inspires their art. I particularly enjoyed Dr Richard Carter’s visualisations of his glider flight paths, which he had turned into a sort of kinetic poetry by adding flight-related words.
My presentation introducing Fieldwork was warmly received and I had a lot of very positive conversations about it. This tends to happen when I talk about the project, which is very heartening and indicates that there is an audience for such a podcast out there, and a potentially enthusiastic one.
As I expected, I didn’t get placed in the Sitcom Mission competition, but when I hear so much enthusiasm for the concept from real people, it makes script competitions feel as irrelevant as they are. Judges seem to have a much narrower view of what audiences want than audiences themselves do. I’m never going to write the next Not Going Out, Fleabag or Mrs Brown’s Boys (thankfully), which is what these competitions are looking for. But I do know my audience and I know that they are largely unrepresented in comedy culture. Writing specifically for them is an opportunity and a joy.
Of course, going from idea to script to podcast is a long process, but Pen and I had the chance to sit down and come up with a plan to move the project forward and get closer to day one of recording. This is where having collaborators is important – I find it hard to do this sort of planning on my own, so it’s always lovely to be able to sit with a friend and plot, and develop a sense of what might be possible and how we make it happen.
I was also delighted to visit the Borthwick Institute for Archives where Gary Brannan, Keeper of Archives and Special Collections, showed me some highlights from the Ray Galton and Alan Simpson collection. (Gary is currently fundraising to finalise the acquisition of the archive.)
Galton and Simpson created the British sitcom genre, writing the groundbreaking Hancock’s Half Hour, then Steptoe and Son, and much more. They also stepped in to write scripts for The Goon Show, which were performed live once, not recorded and never performed again… until last Sunday when Gary staged a performance for another Festival of Ideas event.
It was amazing to be able to to see and touch the original script for possibly the most famous Hancock’s Half Hour episode, The Blood Donor. It was fascinating to see how they rewrote — sometimes, it was clear to them as soon as they had typed something that it was not quite there, so they crossed it out with Xs and rewrote on the spot. In one example, Hancock is supposed to say “I’ve made a mistake…I’ll do something else, I’ll join the Civil Defence” but they immediately cross out “join the civil defence” and replace it with “be a Traffic Warden”, because that’s just objectively funnier.
But later on the same page, after Hancock’s been told he is rhesus negative, “one of the rarest blood groups there is”, they add extra dialogue in by hand. “I’ve always felt, instinctively, that I was somehow apart from the rest of the herd, I’ve never belonged if you know what I mean” becomes “I’ve always felt, instinctively, that I was somehow different from the rest of the herd, something apart, I never fitted into society. I’ve never belonged…”. The second version ramps up Hancock’s superiority complex, makes him much more grandiose, which is, of course, also funnier.
It’s a lovely insight into their way of working, and a reminder that no one, not even Galton & Simpson, gets it right first time.
The archives can also tell us a lot about their working life of writers as it includes a vast amount of paperwork as well as scripts. We get to see them chasing up broadcasters who’ve used snippets of their work without paying (plus ça change), jot down ideas for future episodes, and deal with American adaptations of their work, such as Steptoe and Son which became Sanford and Son in the US.
Next up: I’m looking forward to going back up to York soon for a day-long workshop, to which I was invited because of my participation in last week’s event. This opportunity also emphasises the importance of being able to get out into the world and go to these sorts of events, so thanks to all my GoFundMe supporters for making it possible!