Orla Doherty and I met in Writers Ink, our online writing group in April 2021. As a fellow comedy writer, it’s unsurprising I suppose that we gravitated toward each other. After lengthy Covid restrictions and an even lengthier WhatsApp back and forth, we met in person in October 2012, in Ranelagh. Prosecco was involved.

We had a notion to collaborate on something but what? In 2022 we happened upon the Female Pilot Club sitcom screenwriting competition. We wondered if we could write one together and well, there was only one way to find out.

Inspired by an article Orla wrote for Funny Women online magazine about the time she accidentally kicked her gynaecologist in the face during a routine exam we felt we had our inciting incident. Our pilot episode came together quicker than cod liver oil through a dog and Men Oh! Pause was born. Our episode was longlisted in Female Pilot Club’s competition and more celebratory Prosecco was deemed essential.

We continued to work on the script and now we are delighted to say that it has been optioned for further development work. We love the screenplay; it makes us laugh and we’ll be working hard to bring it to life. Can’t wait.