A 10 minute radio script (group mark) [APPLICATION, COLLABORATIVE SKILLS]
A 1000 word Written Self-Evaluation Report (individual mark) [KNOWLEDGE & UNDERSTANDING, ANALYSIS, REFLECTION]

This module examines the nature and conventions of British and North American radio comedy through a mixture of history and practice (i.e. scriptwriting).
This includes the following:
The social functions of comedy and humour.
Introduction to the major formats of broadcast radio comedy.
The historical development of the radio sketch show in USA and UK.
The historical development of the radio Situation Comedy in USA and UK
The historical uses of surrealism and the absurd on British radio.
The historical development of radio satire in the UK.

This is a theory/practice module in which students work on the production of a jointly written script for a radio comedy. The scriptwriting workshops include a series of tutor-led presentations on how the different formats of radio comedy have developed on British and North American radio. The development of the script proceeds systematically via the development of Character Profiles, Voice Profiles and a Plot Map, which are subsequently incorporated into the Self-Evaluation Report. The series of formal presentations by the tutors, provide opportunities for students to listen to and analyse classic and influential radio comedies. This is intended to alert them to the different forms and approaches to radio comedy that different writers have employed, as well as acting as a source of inspiration (i.e., to stimulate the student?s ideas for their own project). In the latter part of the module, students receive guidance on how to evaluate their script (i.e. what aspects they should consider in order to judge how effective their script is in terms of characterisation, dialogue, plot, listenability, etc.). Students then produce a report on the strengths and weaknesses of their script, articulating their aims and objectives and providing an appraisal of how successful they have been in achieving these.

Library, Internet, Lecture Theatre, Seminar room, CD/Audiotape player.

Chris Blumstead ed., Hancock's Half Hour: Radio Scripts by Galton & Simpson, BBC Books 1987.
Shaun MacLoughlin, Writing for Radio, How To Books, 2001.
Robert McLeish, Radio Production (Third Edition), Focal Press, 1994.
Michael Mulkay, On Humour: Its Nature and Place in Modern Society, Polity Press, 1988.
Steve Neale and Frank Krutnik, Popular Film and Television Comedy, Routledge 1990.
Arthur Wertheim, Radio Comedy, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992