in Bedsitcom. Jones had previously portrayed the part of Crispin in the 2002 drama White Teeth; Gibbon had played the lead role of Link in the series Stone Cold. To avoid breaking character, all three used their real names while living in the flat and went through weeks of rehearsals. O'Connor described the entire process as "exhausting". To find suitable candidates to live with the three actors, producers auditioned roughly 10,000 people, who were told that they would be taking part in a new reality television programme in London called Making Friends. Six members of the public, named Barrington, Bob, Dave, David, Jessica and Shirine, were selected to feature on the show. Writing and filming The plots for Bedsitcom were devised by a team of writers (led by Rob Gibbons, Neil Gibbons and producer Matt Crook) located in a garage on the ground floor of the apartment building that the contestants were staying in. The writers would often appear on screen and explain to the TV audience what their intention for each episode was. They communicated with Ash, Gibbon and Jones either by ringing them on their mobile phones, or by calling them downstairs to speak to them in person. They would occasionally change their plans for an episode—in "Worst Case Scenario", for example, the writers altered their storyline from having Mel bring various animals into the flat to having the group kill Mel's goldfish after only one night. Among the team of writers were Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain, who had created the Channel 4 sitcom Peep Show with O'Connor earlier that year, plus Rob Gibbons and Neil Gibbons. Filming of Bedsitcom began in May 2003 and lasted for approximately eight weeks. The flatmates were filmed for 12 hours a day, with this footage then being edited down to roughly 25 minutes per week of filming. Episodes Bedsitcom documented the lives of six young adults living in a loft flat in London. Eight episodes in total were created, which were divided into two distinct halves. The first four episodes centred on the lives of Mel, Paul and Rufus, the three actors, as they lived in the flat with Bob, Dave and Shirine, the three unaware members of the public who believed they were taking part in a genuine reality TV show. After Bob, Dave and Shirine had learnt the true nature of the show at the end of episode