Being able to interview well—eliciting elearly the information required whilst establishing and maintaining a rapport with the patient—is one of the doctor's greatest assets. Yet very little attention is paid to the teaching of interviewing skills. In this article Dr Maguire describes a short, successful course in interviewing skills which he and his colleagues at Manchester teach to medical students during their psychiatric attachment. Students receive feedback on their taped interviews with patients and are required to complete an interview rating scale. Role play is introduced where students have particular difficulty covering a given area, e.g. recent bereavement, or mastering a particular technique.