Media Students Enjoy TV Writing Seminar

Birkenhead Sixth Form College A level Media students attended a fascinating talk with local comedy writer, Mike Haskins, recently. The comedy guru explained what it was like to collaborate with some of the top names in British media and entertainment, from Griff Rhys Jones to Simon Pegg.

The students were entertained by anecdotes and clips of comedy classics such as Smith and Jones and Hale and Pace, with Mike explaining how he goes about writing hilarious jokes and sketches.

Mike’s 25 years’ experience of penning scripts for great British performers includes working with Steve Coogan, David Mitchell, Robert Webb, Martin Freeman, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Amanda Holden, Hugh Dennis, Paul Merton and many others.

A Level Students discovered what a writing career was really like, as Haskins enlightened them on how he develops comedy shows, documentaries, quiz programmes and even, Griff Rhys-Jones’s one-man live shows and tours. Mike explored the enthralling history of writing for broadcasting, offering insight into a career in the creative freelance world. 

Mike has authored over 60 published books, most recently Beatles’ Liverpool, a guide to Beatle associated sites across Liverpool and Merseyside.

Julie Edwards, teacher of Media at the College, states:  “The students particularly loved hearing about Mike’s knowledge of The Beatles. Many them share a great love of popular music and the talk enabled them to deepen their understanding of popular culture”.