Jack Rooke, double Bafta-winning comedy writer, has a confession. “I actually don’t like writing,” he laughs. “I find it really boring and time-consuming. I find other writers all really awkward and anxious and full of neuroses. I’m a stand-up comedian! I would way rather be at the Edinburgh Fringe performing in a tiny hovel, sharing a dressing room with 12 drag queens, than I would in a writer’s room. It’s not my vibe.”
Now, at this year’s Television Awards, Big Boys is nominated for best comedy, alongside Pointing for actor in a comedy. And a scene they appeared in together – where Rooke plays a version of himself, talking back through time to Pointing’s character – is the only scripted comedy nominated in the “memorable moment” category. All in all it’s a long way from the series’ inauspicious origins.
“We made that show on the smallest possible budgets. Series one was half-funded by the Young Audiences Content Fund through the BFI, so we almost didn’t make it. Nobody ever really wanted to fully commit to Big Boys. Thankfully Fiona McDermott, when she was at Channel 4, said, ‘I love this show. I think it should be a unique comedy, but also a family comedy.’
In his Bafta Craft winner’s speech last month, Rooke spoke passionately about the need to invest in comedy early, and the class barrier that means some people never have a chance to take their first steps into the industry. “It’s really challenging to make comedy in the UK at the moment,” he expl-ains. “I think it’s because it’s devalued constantly against drama, and gets less spend than drama, especially at the public service broadcaster level. It gets way less marketing.
A big issue, he explains, is that more “regional” or specific comedies – he cites Alma’s Not Normal, Smoggie Queens, Juice, The Change and Things You Should Have Done – are harder to sell to America, which means they can’t secure the same investment as more universal stories.
On or off his keyboard, Rooke is a funny man. Believe it or not, that’s not a prerequisite for comedy writers, and given his campaigning mien and the themes of his work (which has covered grief and suicide), you might expect him to be more earnest than he is. Instead, he spends our shoot riffing with Pointing and sending himself up, comparing his work unfavourably to older comedies like Only Fools and Horses.
He laughs, warming to his theme. “I’m bored of mental health shows. There you go. We’re sick of them now. Just get a therapist and take some vitamin D, get outside and have a walk. All right?”
“I’m really proud that we ended it with series three, and it was always going to be a three-season arc, because you have three years of uni,” he says firmly. “Sometimes, you have to end on a high – like with these Bafta nominations.”
Big Boys is available on C4 streaming
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