Laurence Rickard writes and performs as one of a group, from Horrible Histories to Ghosts, a sitcom gentle, quick and far better built than its silliness suggests. In Amandaland, written with others, the wider ensemble takes more effort to feel like a group.
Fi1m perspective
In Ghosts (2019) Laurence Rickard plays both a caveman and a severed head, and he is funnier as the head. That tells you most of what you need to know about him as a writer. Most of the programme's jokes are reaction shots, six faces at once, and Mike Holliday's editing nearly always cuts to the right one. Rickard writes for the face that is not speaking. He has spent a long time in rooms with people who know how to hold one.
He has done almost nothing alone, and that is the point rather than a criticism. He started on sketch and comedy shows in the mid-2000s, joined Horrible Histories in 2009 as a writer and performer, Bob Hale among his characters, and stayed with the same troupe, who call themselves Them There, through Yonderland (2013), which he also ran, and the feature Bill (2015), co-written with Ben Willbond. Ghosts ran five series to 2023. Then came Amandaland (2025), the spin-off from Motherland, written with Barunka O'Shaughnessy, Helen Serafinowicz and Holly Walsh.
What works is the ensemble and the tone. Nobody in Ghosts fights for the camera, because these people have been making each other laugh for years and the writing assumes it. Lolly Adefope's Kitty, a Georgian girl of enormous and badly aimed enthusiasm, is the find, and Katy Wix's Mary describes being burnt as a witch as if it were a spot of bad weather. We laughed harder at that line than at anything in most sitcoms, and it works because the writing gives her the calm and then cuts to the others, who have heard it before. Rickard's stated preference is for comedy that plays to all ages, silly with a little poignancy, and it is a natural fit for a room that has always written that way.
What does not work is quieter. The hotel plot in Ghosts goes nowhere, and it hardly matters, though it hints at the limit of writing by committee: a group that guards its tone will also guard against stories that might strain it. Amandaland shows the other side. The influencer jokes land because they are attached to Amanda's hunger for status, and Lucy Punch carries them. The teenage-parenting material is more familiar, and the wider ensemble takes more effort to feel like a group. After Ghosts, that gap is instructive. You cannot write ten years of shared jokes into a first series.
We scored both at 80, and we would stand by both. On ending Ghosts while it was still good, Rickard said the group "couldn't face the risk of just letting it slowly wind down". A writer who knows when to stop is rarer than one who knows how to start. We did not expect to miss a severed head. We do.
Biography
Laurence Rickard, also known as Larry Rickard, is an English actor, writer and comedian. He trained at Brunel University London and began his career writing for comedy series including The Armstrong and Miller Show and The Impressions Show with Culshaw and Stephenson.
He is a principal member of the Them There collective. Rickard co-wrote, performed in and contributed lyrics to Horrible Histories (2009–2013). He co-created, wrote and starred in Yonderland (2013–2016) and the BBC sitcom Ghosts (2019–2023), in which he played Robin and Sir Humphrey Bone. He co-wrote and appeared in the film Bill (2015).
Rickard co-wrote and served as script editor on the BBC sitcom Amandaland (2025–), a spin-off from Motherland, and appeared as Mr Hastings in series two. The series won a BAFTA for Best Scripted Comedy in 2026.
