Toby Whithouse

Ah, how splendid. Was going to write up my notes from last night's Writersroom Q&A with Being Human's writer/creator Toby Whithouse, but it appears that Lord Jez Freedman, Lara Greenway, Stevyn Colgan and Adadinsane have done the job for me. How utterly splendid. Furthermore, the Q&A will be transcribed on the indispensable Writersroom site in the near future, so look out for that. If you haven't already sucked it into your brain via your eyeballs, then you might also fancy the three-part interview I did with Toby last May.

If you're still reading, it was a fine Q&A, with Toby's previous 18-month stand-up stint clearly having eradicated any hint of onstage nerves. Great to see an interview which, by dint (God, I love the word "dint", but rarely get to employ it) of being conducted by the BBC's Creative Director of New Writing Kate Rowland, gave no quarter to mainstream content. It was pretty much all writing, writing, writing - right down to the nitty-gritty of the man's daily routine.

Interestingly, the Whithouse aims to write five pages a day - but won't move on until those five pages shine like sapphires (and steel). It's an unusual approach, relatively speaking, as most people favour the method of swimming like a shark and never looking back until the end. This, he said unto me in the bar afterwards, is largely down to him being a tad obsessive, which is fair enough.

Anyway, why am I still quacking? You're not reading this: you're over at Freedman, Colgan, Greenway and Adadinsane's gaffs, enjoying a cup of tea and perhaps some cake. But I know you'll be back. Especially as I've just taken delivery of brand new bone china and some macaroons. Mmmmmmm.

9 comments:

laurence timms said...

Oh, sod Jez and Mr Sane, I want a macaroon and I want it now.

Two lumps, please.

Piers said...

I don't even know what sort of biscuit a macaroon is.

Assuming it is a sort of biscuit. And not a distress flare.

laurence timms said...

The macaroon is neither cake nor biscuit, but dwells in a twilight world between the two.

It lives alongside other hybrid creations that are neither one thing nor the other: sea sponges, slime mould and Lily Savage are all here, balanced in a dualistic quantum state, waiting for the waveform to collapse.

Amongst these, though, only the macaroon can be enjoyed with a well-brewed cup of English Breakfast.

Piers said...

Are you quite sure that Lily Savage cannot?

Word Verification: intea

laurence timms said...

Well, have you ever tried dunking a beehive hairdo into your cuppa? It ends in tears, every time.

Yehudah Jez Freedman said...

erm, can I still have a macaroon... please

Jason Arnopp said...

Y'know what? I had no idea what a macaroon was, either. Ooh, see how I weave the fiction.

Phill Barron said...

How can you people not know what a macaroon is? What the hell's wrong with you?

My ire is best summed up by the word verification: psiou

laurence timms said...

I had one of them macaroons in the back of my cab this morning. Wanted to go south of the river.

Tell you what, I wouldn't mess with 'em.