I think 99% of the whole thing is to have passion about the idea yourself. I think part of your job as a filmmaker is to tell someone that might not think it's going to work that, actually, it will work.

I think what's difficult is proving to people that a script actually does work and sometimes the laughter might not be on the page, it might be between the lines.

Manchester has a certain reputation of being cool.

'Sightseers' started off as a character comedy double act.

We always wanted to make a comedy that was a little bit more than that, which had tragic elements to it... that people engaged with - an intelligent comedy essentially.

The film [Sightseers] is really the story of the journey of a relationship, so the killings are almost a metaphor for the trials they go through. We wanted people to identify with the experience of going on holiday and having a quarrel with your wife, boyfriend, whatever. We knew if we didn't crack that it would not be watchable as a film.

I think in most couples or partnerships, there's a constant struggle for power and dominance.

Ironically, there isn't much comedy film in Britain, which is quite surprising seeing that we're quite good at it.

When I was a kid the highlight of my week would be doing a fossil hunt at the local quarry... that kind of thing.

So many films end up being filmed in London or in the same places over and over again.

If you can make someone believe that you believe in the idea then I think that's worth a lot.

Growing up, I didn't feel very cool having come from the Midlands.

I think it's very easy to get discouraged early on.

Both of us have forged our careers in London, but a lot of my comedy influences come from my family and my childhood.

It's nice to think people might be talking about it after they've seen it. With some comedies it's a bit 'wham bam thank you ma'am', and then you just go for a pizza.

I think both of us [ with Steve Oram], once we decided to do comedy, knew that we would have to come to London to do that.

We developed 'Sightseers' as a TV idea but didn't get anywhere with it because all the channels said it was too dark originally as an idea for television.

I always think it's just best to just make stuff and to carry on making stuff, even if it's not off your own back, because that's the only way... especially as a comedy writer, I make short films and then show them to live audience, so if they're laughing you know you're doing something right.