I agree. Whenever I try to visualise my ideas for sitcom, I always see it as a traditional studio production rather than some kind of new-fangled The Office style show. Strange really, because I don't seem to enjoy that old-fashioned style much these days. I'm certainly not a fan of canned laughter, but I do think it sits well with certain modern sitcoms, the Vicar of Dibley being an example that springs to mind.

Classic piece of advise from Marc Blake's book. Don't do a sitcom about brothels 'its not going to happen' and 'stop even thinking about it'. A couple of months later Respectable came out - about a brothel.

But that was Channel Five, where rules just don't apply!

"I don't see why people are so snooty about Channel 5. It has some respectable documentaries about the Second World War. It also devotes considerable airtime to investigations into lap dancing, and other related and vital subjects."

We can't get Channel 5 where we are. We can't get digital either so I miss out on a lot of BBC3 stuff. And I really get pissed off when I see adverts for moovies on channel 4, and then it turns out they're showing them on FilmFour. Especially now it's free! I do feel I miss out on a lot of new sitcoms without BBC3, although some of them find their way onto BBC2.