Joking Apart

By 1990, Moffat had written two series of Press Gang, but the programme's high cost along with organisational changes at Central cast its future in doubt.[4] As Moffat wondered what to do next and worried about his future employment, Bob Spiers, Press Gang's primary director, suggested that he meet with producer Andre Ptaszynski to discuss writing a sitcom.[2] Moffat's father had been a headteacher and Moffat himself had taught English before writing Press Gang, so his initial proposal was a programme similar to what would become Chalk, a series that eventually aired in 1997.[5]

As he was separating from his wife, Moffat was going through a difficult period and aspects of it coloured his creative output.[4] He introduced a proxy of his wife's new partner into the Press Gang episode "The Big Finish?", the character Brian Magboy (Simon Schatzberger). Moffat scripted unfortunate situations for the Magboy character, such as having a typewriter drop on his foot. Moffat says that the character's name was inspired by his wife's: "Magboy: Maggie's boy".[4]

During the pitch meeting at the Groucho Club, Ptaszynski realised that Moffat was talking passionately about his impending divorce and suggested that he write about that instead of his initial proposal, a school sitcom.[5] Taking Ptaszynski's advice, Moffat's new idea was about "a sitcom writer whose wife leaves him".[6] Speaking about the autobiographical elements of the show, the writer jokes that he has to remember that his wife didn't leave him for an estate agent; his wife was an estate agent.[7] In 2003, Moffat told The New York Times that his "ex-wife wasn't terribly pleased about her failed marriage being presented as a sitcom on BBC2 on Monday nights".[8] In an interview with Richard Herring, Moffat says that "the sit-com actually lasted slightly longer than my marriage".[9] Conversely, his later sitcom Coupling was based on his relationship with his second wife, TV producer Sue Vertue.[10] Moffat reused the surname 'Taylor', which is Mark's surname in Joking Apart, for Jack Davenport's character Steve in Coupling.

The exclusive block of flats in Chelsea, London that were used as the exterior of Mark's flat

The pilot, directed by John Kilby, was filmed at Pebble Mill in Birmingham on 9–10 August 1990.[11] It is practically identical to the first episode of the series proper;[12] some scenes are even reused, notably the scene with Mark and Becky meeting when he accidentally turns up at a funeral. The reused footage gave rise to the first episode's shared director credit between Spiers and Kilby.[13] The stand-up sequences were shot against a black background. Although this made it clearer that they were not "real", Moffat thought that it looked odd.[6] The pilot was transmitted on BBC2 as part of its Comic Asides series of pilot shows on 12 July 1991.[11]

Moffat had written all six episodes of the first series before recording commenced. With series two, he had written only the first four episodes by the time recording had commenced,[14] only delivering the final episode by the first day of rehearsals.[7]

All of the location shots were filmed at the beginning of the production block.[15] Recording for the first series of six episodes began on location in the first half of April 1992[11] and were mainly filmed in Chelsea within a short distance from the director's home.[16] The stand-up sequences were filmed in the Café Des Artistes on London's Fulham Road, now known as the Valmont Club,[11] and were shot for the benefit of the studio audience, with the intention of reshooting them later for the broadcast version. Robert Bathurst has complained that, in order to save £5,000, this promised reshoot never materialised.[6] The close ups of Bathurst were filmed in the studio for the second series, with stock footage of the club's audience reused.[11]

After the exterior shots had been filmed, the episodes were recorded at BBC Television Centre in April and May 1992 for the first series, and 12 November until 18 December 1993 for the second.[11] Studio recording sessions were normally completed quickly; Gillies recalls "an hour and a half, tops".[15] To a large extent, the editing occurred live during the studio recording with only tightening later. At the end of the recording on Sunday evenings Spiers would review the show before retiring to the bar, with the bulk of the work complete. Moffat contrasts this with the editing of modern sitcoms, which, he says, are edited more like film.[15]

Many of the first six episodes of Joking Apart were constructed non-sequentially, with scenes from the beginning of the relationship juxtaposed with those from the end. Moffat describes this non-linear technique as a "romantic comedy, but a romantic comedy backwards because it ends with the couple unhappy".[6] Moffat had experimented with non-linear narrative in Press Gang, such as the episode "Monday-Tuesday".[17] Various episodes of Coupling played with structure, such as the fourth series episode "9½ Minutes" which showed the same events from three perspectives.[18]

Robert Bathurst, as Mark, in a fantasy stand-up sequence. In the pilot, Bathurst was filmed against a completely black backdrop. According to Moffat, this looked "odd" for the viewer.[6]

All of the episodes open with Bathurst portraying Mark Taylor, a sitcom writer, apparently performing stand-up in a small comedy club. These performances are fantasy sequences, playing out in the character's mind and portraying his internal creative processes as comedic monologues; these monologues mainly employ material from the character's failing marriage and are intended to show that "he thinks in punchlines, in comedy".[19] Episodes regularly cut back to these fantasy performances, which usually open with the signature line: "My wife left me ...". Moffat felt that audiences needed to know from the start that the relationship would not survive.[6] However, it was unclear to some viewers that the fantasy sequences were set in the writer's mind; many journalists reported that the character Mark was a stand-up comic,[20] not a sitcom writer.

In the fantasy sequences for the pilot, Bathurst was filmed against a completely black backdrop, which Moffat describes as "hell to look at".[6] For the series, the sequences were filmed in a real club. Moffat describes this as the "wrong direction" as it became unclear that the fantasy sequences were "not real".[6] Moffat observes that, like Seinfeld, an American sitcom that used a similar device, Joking Apart used less of the stand-up as the series progressed. In retrospect, Moffat regrets including the stand-up sequences.[6] Bathurst, however, has considered refilming them as a video diary. Now with older features, he can portray a Mark Taylor reflecting on his earlier life.[21] Both are very critical of the sequences in the DVD audio commentaries. The sequences have also drawn the sharpest criticisms from reviewers.[22] The second series followed a more linear structure, although it retained the stand-up sequences.[23]

"Fool (If You Think It's Over)", written by Chris Rea, was used for both the opening and closing credit sequences. The original Rea version was used for the pilot's closing credits, but for the series it was performed by Kenny Craddock, who arranged the incidental music with Colin Gibson.[24] Beginning with a saxophone, only the chorus of the theme song accompanied the opening titles. These ran over legal imagery and a sequence of images of famous separated couples, including Arthur Miller and Marilyn Monroe; Winnie and Nelson Mandela; Princess Anne and Mark Phillips, and culminating in Mark and Becky. The closing credits featured a verse and chorus. The first part of the closing credits was usually over a still of the final frame, and faded to black with the line "All dressed in black."[25]

The first episode shows the couple meeting at a funeral, marrying, and going through the honeymoon phase. The last section of the episode features a confrontation between Becky and Mark, in which the former admits that she is an adulteress before realising that all of her friends are hiding around her living room in preparation for a surprise party for her.[26] The story continues directly into episode two, when Robert and Tracy return to the flat to check on Mark after his wife's departure. The three recall the circumstances in which they had first met. After their first date, the couple go back to Becky's flat. While she is in the bathroom, he strips down to his boxer shorts and handcuffs himself to the bedpost. Unable to free himself, he is found by Robert and Tracy as they walk in on him.[33] Moffat used a similar scenario for the Coupling episode "The Freckle, the Key, and the Couple who Weren't"[38] and reveals in its audio commentary that it is based on a situation with one of his ex-girlfriends.[39]

In the third episode, Mark arrives at Robert and Tracy's house on the wrong night for a dinner party. The couple are entertaining that night, but are instead expecting Becky and her new boyfriend Trevor. Hopeful of a reconciliation, Mark assumes that his friends are trying to smooth things over between them. They spend the evening trying to keep Mark and Trevor apart, each not knowing that the other is also there.[30] Episode five makes extensive use of what Moffat labels "techno-farce", which uses technology, predominantly telephones, to facilitate the farcical situations.[15] Moffat considers this episode the best of the show.[15] Discussing the series as a whole, Moffat felt that the story ends after this episode.[7] It begins when Mark attempts to return Robert's mobile phone and ends with Robert threatening to shoot Mark after the latter has slept with Tracy. The series ends with Becky and Trevor, and Robert and Tracy reconciling their relationships and Mark being left alone.[40]

The format was changed for this series, with the dual timelines and many of the flashbacks dropped for a more linear narrative.[41] Moffat felt that the relationship had already been sufficiently established in the first series so there was little point returning to the start.[42] Set two months after the end of series one, Mark meets Becky in a newsagent, where he is purchasing pornographic magazines. He discovers the location of Becky and Trevor's house and breaks in using Tracy's keys. However, he is forced to hide under the bed when Becky and Trevor return home. Listening to them having sex, he becomes optimistic when he thinks that Becky is beginning to shout his name ("M..."). The name turns out to be Michael (Tony Gardner), Becky's solicitor, with whom she is now being unfaithful to Trevor.[43]

Robert and Tracy are given more stories than in the first series.[41] Their main story arc begins in the third episode when Robert is caught by all of the main characters and his parents in a maid's outfit being spanked by a prostitute.[31] The couple temporarily separate while Robert experiments with cross-dressing, but they are reunited by the end of the series.

The fourth episode features a scene where Mark jams his dressing gown in the door and is forced to hide naked in his new neighbour's flat. This sequence was Moffat's revenge for Bathurst's late arrival at the series one press launch at the Café Royal in Regent Street, London. Moffat threatened that if they ever did a second series he would write a whole episode in which Bathurst was naked.[20][44] After being mistaken for a flasher,[45] Mark is punched by his neighbour's brother. When he awakens he is confronted by a man (Kerry Shale) in a red polo neck jumper who claims to be "his very best friend".[35] In the fifth episode it transpires that the man, who identifies himself as Dick, is the personification of Mark's penis.[46]

The final episode begins after Becky and Michael had slept together while Becky is house sitting for Tracy and Robert, and Michael hides in the bathroom when the latter couple return. Tracy phones a morning television phone-in show and when she realises that the show's divorce expert is hiding in her bathroom she takes on his role (with a heavy Northern accent, actually a slightly exaggerated version of Bennett's own voice) to give herself advice on the other line.[47] Bennett says this was the hardest thing she has had to do in her career.[48]