Many of the first six episodes of "Joking Apart" were constructed non-sequentially, with scenes from the beginning of the relationship juxtaposed with those from the end. Moffat describes this non-linear technique as a "romantic comedy, but a romantic comedy backwards because it ends with the couple unhappy". Moffat had experimented with non-linear narrative in "Press Gang", notably the episode "Monday-Tuesday". Various episodes of "Coupling" played with structure, such as the fourth series episode "9½ Minutes" which showed the same events from three perspectives.