'I don't take credit for ideas...'

The new Mustard magazine has an exclusive interview with writer/producer John Lloyd , talking about his work on QI, Blackadder, Spitting Image, Not The Nine O’Clock News and writing the Hitchhikers’ Guide To The Galaxy radio series with Douglas Adams. But the interview was so extensive it couldn’t all fit into the magazine – so here Chortle presents some of the material which had to be omitted...

Most people know what writers and directors do, but what about producers?

In TV and radio comedy, the producer has the best job: you generate the ideas, work on the script, cast the actors – on radio, you may even do the coconut shell sound-effects. Directors, in comedy at least, often tend to be more technical people who point the camera at things.

In film, it’s the other way around: the director is the big guy and the producer is the nuts-and-bolts person who organises the finance, the hiring and firing, and so forth. I get the best of both worlds, really, because I direct ads, which is the fun bit there, and I produce telly, with brilliant guys like Ian Lorimer on QI, to do the hard work of multiple-camera directing.

As for what producers do... it’s a paradox. They do everything and nothing. It’s their fault if the show’s no good. A director can blame a terrible script, but a producer has no excuse. I always take complete responsibility but, in return, I require – not people’s love or respect – but for them to do what I ask. Occasionally, you have to pull rank just to get things done.

The producer makes the map of the journey, but he doesn’t build the boat or trim the sails. I can’t compose songs, make costumes, act, or focus-pull even the simplest moving shot. But crews will do anything for a producer/director who’s polite and who knows what they want.

So you’re the steersman, giving it a light touch here and there to keep it on course. And you’ll make mistakes, because the picture of the destination in your head is like a distant shore that you’re trying to dimly discern through the mist.

Was there a formula to creating your shows, or was it a gut instinct?

The only shows I count as ‘mine’ are the ones I was in at the beginning of. I like starting with a blank sheet and trying to create something where nothing was before.

The first thing that comes to me, even before the concept, is the flavour. Programmes are a bit like food, and producing’s a bit like cooking. Every programme is created from the same basic ingredients, yet it results in everything from the worst show you’ve ever seen to something unforgettable.

John Howard Society hopes to provide transitional housing for ex ...

The John Howard Society of Toronto (JHT) will file a funding application with the City of Toronto to build a transitional housing facility for men who have been recently released from prison.

In 2010, the JHT commissioned a study to determine the cost savings of transitional housing and supports for homeless ex-prisoners and sexual offenders.

Making Toronto Safer: A Cost-Benefit Analysis of Transitional Housing Supports for Men Leaving Incarceration, released Tuesday, concluded that transitional housing and supports can save an estimated $350,000 for a homeless ex-prisoner and $109,000 for sexual offenders.