Andy Hamilton: how to write a political comedy

Ahead of Ballot Monkeys, a new series poking fun at the General Election, Drop the Dead Donkey co-creator Andy Hamilton reveals his 10 golden rules.

Ballot Monkeys: A sitcom in poll position

Ballot Monkeys, a new five-part comedy series that hitches a ride with the party apparatchiks on the general election battle buses, will be shot at the last-possible moment to make sure its satire is absolutely up-to-the-minute. It's an exciting concept that would nevertheless have most writer-directors swinging from the trees with nerves. Not Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin.

How we made Drop the Dead Donkey

Andy Hamilton: "I'm glad we didn't call it Dead Kuwaitis Don't Count - as Saddam invaded Kuwait the week it launched."

This bizarre but brilliant one-hour special showcases the talents of acclaimed actress Jane Horrocks as a mimic and comedy performer, in a series of sketches written by, among others, Victoria Wood and Andy Hamilton.

What We Did On Our Holiday review

What We Did On Our Holiday is proof of the adage 'never judge a book by its cover'. Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin's movie is not the film its trailer makes it out to be, it's a lot more surprising and ambition than the sedate fare you'd expect based on the promos.

What We Did On Our Holiday review

If you like Outnumbered, you'll love this, as there's more than enough surprises to justify Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin taking their tried and tested approach with child actors to the big screen.

One of the biggest problems with TV sitcoms centring on families is what to do when the child actors get older. This is particularly problematic with a show like Outnumbered, which returned for a fifth and final series this week, primarily because the comedy relied on the innocence and naivety of the kids. Almost seven years on, the children are looking incredibly old most noticeably Ramona Marquez who started playing Karen when she was only five. Now twelve years old, Marquez's Karen was the centre of the action this week as parents Pete (Hugh Dennis) and Sue (Claire Skinner) worried that she was fitting in at her new challenging school. To an extent I feel that writers Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin have updated the character well as she has now entered her stroppy pre-teen phase. She is a lot sulkier and I was shocked when I actually heard a swear word come out of her mouth. The school that Karen has been sent to has a very strict dress code and Karen is finding some of the work incredibly hard. She's also not fitting in all that well, as we see when she is forced to spend time with her one of her classmates after school. Karen's problems at school lead the ever-worried Sue to send out a late night e-mail to the parents of her daughter's classmates asking if they've had similar problems. The responses she receives are fairly shocking, prompting Pete to tell her that sending any e-mails after 11pm is a bad mistake. Whilst Karen's problems at school ring true, I was less interested in her search for a missing hamster. It just seemed to me like this story was something that Karen would've done while she's younger and I fail to believe that this new sulky brunette girl would be that bothered about a pet.

Elsewhere Karen's two brothers are more ill-served by the storylines especially Ben (Daniel Roche) who is auditioning for the school play. The character of Ben was great when he was a destructive young lad but as a teenager he seems to be a little lost. Though the thought of him playing the lead in a musical version of Spartacus did raise a few chuckles, this was the least realistic of the three plots. I did feel that there was more truth in the antics of older son Jake (Tyger Drew-Honey) who this week got a dodgy tattoo. This was a rite-of-passage story that a lot of teenagers have experienced and the fact that Jake wanted to remove the body art by the end of the episode was also incredibly realistic. Indeed, one thing that Hamilton and Jenkin have always excelled at is making their comedy feel as believable as possible. That's why Outnumbered worked so well when it started and why, for the most part, it still survives in 2014. Jake and Karen's story suited their progression and Pete and Sue continued to be the stereotypical fretting parents. The main thing I found about this series of Outnumbered, as compared to previous outings, is that I didn't laugh as much. While there were a few chuckles and a couple of titters I mostly felt that the comedy was well-observed but didn't find it funny enough to laugh out loud. Despite this I still found a lot to like about Outnumbered and feel that the chemistry between the five actors is still as fine as it was seven years ago. My only hope is that the Brockman family is given a fitting send-off and Outnumbered gets a suitably anarchic final series.

Outnumbered series 5 episode one review

Sitcoms have a limited life span, so when their creators - in this case, Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin - stretch them out for a prolonged amount of time, one can grow resentful. After tonight's edition of Outnumbered I was left with the unpleasant aftertaste of having witnessed an old dog being begrudgingly dragged out for a walk.

A fifth and final series for Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin's enduring sitcom. Modern life proves as irksome for Sue and Pete as ever: tempering the expectations of an increasingly gravelly voiced Ben ahead of his audition for Spartacus the Musical, guiding Karen through troubled times at school and dealing with a freshly inked-up Jake. The formula of Cute Kids Saying Cute seems slightly incongruous with a trio of t(w)eenagers chez Brockman, but they've earned this final furlong of hurrahs.

Andy Hamilton interview

Is the comedy writer behind Outnumbered and Drop the Dead Donkey finally losing the plot?