You’ll need a little bit of space, if you’re going to…

…sock Gareth in the gob.

Ooh! But of course, it only looks like Gail hit Gareth from where we – and Fred – are sitting.

From another angle, it’s obvious that she aimed to miss. Lesson one: you have to agree what you’re going to do with the other actors, so they don’t accidentally flinch into your punch. Because then you really do hit them in the face. Oops.

As for the sound – that’s easy. Your eye is drawn to the flying fist and Gareth’s head, so you don’t notice Gail slapping her stomach just as the punch ‘connects.’

If you’re filming a ‘fight’ on video, you can also do the classic run-the-tape-backwards trick: start off as if you’ve just lamped your opponent in the chops, then…

…pull back. Run that backwards and… you know, actually it didn’t look very good, did it? Ah, well.

Still, now we know the basics, there’s nowhere for a good punch-up that’s quite as good as the Wild West.

Meet Maverick McKenna, double-crossing horse-thief.

Meet Calamity Jones, low-down varmint.

But wait! Who’s this approaching?

“Dead-Eye” Dinenage, Sheriff of these here parts, and known for his strict enforcing of the local laws: all Post-It notes to be handed in, and absolutely no fist fights.

Too late.

Much too late.

Far, far too late.

Ah, well. hopefully they’ll have recovered for the next show – see you next Friday!