Ivor Baddiel

Writing funny with an ex-teacher turned comedy scriptwriter who now does that sort of thing for the telly.

Over the last twenty years ex-teacher Ivor has been writing extensively for television on such shows as The BAFTAs, The X Factor, Mock The Week, Dancing On Ice, The National Television Awards, Off Their Rockers and Bruce Forsyth’s Hall of Fame. He has written for the likes of Stephen Fry, Graham Norton, Claudia Winkleman, Ant and Dec, Dermot O’Leary, Joan Rivers, Miranda Hart and many others.

Using scripts and running orders from a variety of these shows Ivor provides a unique insight in to how these sort of television programmes work when it comes to the writing side of things. He will also talk about the process of writing with particular reference to humour and gag writing. Finally, there will be a practical opportunity for the students to do some writing themselves and, for those that feel like it, take on the role of television host and read out their scripts.

Ivor believes that this is a fun and effective way to get children and students writing. It encourages them to think creatively, whilst also getting them to use all the basic writing skills such as grammar and spelling. His only worry is that one of the students will be too good at it and he’ll end up out of a job.