Twelve-year-old Marius is on the run from the Government. He’s the only one in the whole nation that values his sense of humour. Everyone else was de-humoured at birth – well, most people were. Yet somehow with Marius there was a glitch.

He is captured on the run, but this time it’s not the soldiers. He has been taken by The Funnies – renegades who, like him, somehow escaped the ‘zappers’ at birth, but were betrayed by their loved ones. Marius meets their leader – Clown, plus Punchline, Slapstick, Stand-Up, Dummy (and his wooden owl, Too-Wit), Corny, Sick, Sarky, Mimic, Poo (yes, sorry) and Mime. He is entranced – kindred spirits – fellow laughers.

His loyalties are put to the test when The Funnies snatch his best friend Peter, humourless son of Mr. J, the Deputy Minister of Humour. Marius dreams of being able to make Peter laugh. 

Could the de-humouring be reversible and if so, could he restore the humour of an entire population? 

Paul A. Mendelson is the BAFTA-nominated creator of several hit BBC family-comedy series, including May to December, So Haunt Me and the long-running My Hero, starring Ardal O'Hanlon. He co-created Neighbors From Hell for DreamWorks Animation and writes regularly for BBC Radio 4 Drama.