The BBC Writing Comedy workshop is free, and takes place on Saturday 30th April 2005, from 9.30am - 1pm.

Venue: LCB Depot, 31 Rutland Street, Leicester LE1 1RE

Blurbage follows: Leicester Comedy Festival and BBC THREE have joined together to encourage Midlands writers to enter a national comic writing competition based around BBC TV sitcoms. A workshop giving advice about writing comedy for television will take place on 30th April. The workshop will give developing writers the chance to meet BBC Producers and creators who will provide advice about writing comedy for television. Participants will explore creating plots and sub plots, the development of characters as well as script layout and formats. Advice will also be given about how to write for BBC television.

Writers will then be encouraged to enter the competition, organised by BBC THREE, and the winning entry will be filmed and produced as a pilot. Each entrant is asked to complete one of 8 original sitcoms that have been written by some of the most experience writers around. Writers of television hits such as The Vicar of Dibley, Butterflies, My Family and Gimme, Gimme, Gimme have written the first 20 minutes of new half hour sitcoms - all you need to do is write the final 10.

Further information about the competition is available from www.bbc.co.uk/lastlaugh

Anyone interested in attending the FREE workshop, should contact Anna Peavitt on 0116 261 6812 or anna@comedy-festival.co.uk

The workshop is being supported by BBC & Arts Council England's Roots Project and we are encouraging a diverse range of writers to attend the event. We are especially encouraging Black, Asian and Chinese writers to take part, in addition to female writers. Further information about the Roots Project is available by e-mailing parminder.dosanjh@bbc.co.uk