Mr Bigstuff is a new TV comedy that stars Danny Dyer and Ryan Sampson as two estranged Essex-born brothers suddenly come crashing back into each other's worlds.
The six-parter on Sky Max features EastEnders favourite Danny in his first leading role in a TV comedy as he plays alpha-male anarchistic Lee who hasn't had any contact with his family for years.
Meanwhile, Brassic and Plebs star, Ryan Sampson portrays Lee's perfectionist and mild-mannered carpet salesman brother, Glen, who is horrified when Lee suddenly shows up and causes a scene at his workplace, Carpet World.
What To Watch caught up with Ryan (who created and wrote Mr Bigstuff) and Danny, to hear about the inspiration behind it, comedy dance routines, their favourite scenes and a star-studded cast...
What was the inspiration behind the story Ryan?
Ryan: "It’s about broken families and how they might get back together. In real life, it’s a bit like my family. We lost my mum a few years ago and after that we were all spinning off in our own directions because the planet we’d all been orbiting around had gone. I wanted to write something about how that kind of family might get back together, even if it’s a weird journey."
What can you tell us about your characters?
Ryan: "Glen lives a nice suburban life with his fiancée Kirsty and wants everything to be cute and perfect. He’s saving up for his wedding day then Lee arrives and churns everything up."
Danny: "Lee has a good heart but no filter. He doesn’t conform to the way society expects and is running away from some very dangerous people. He needs his brother for many different reasons."
Ryan, when you wrote this did you always have Danny in mind to play Lee?
Ryan: "Yes completely. I wrote the part for Danny then showed the script to a producer who said, ‘Right, you realise this is written exclusively for Danny Dyer who is locked into EastEnders and unable to do any other roles.’ I hadn’t even taken that into account! I went out that night with mates to commiserate the fact I’d completely wasted my time and the very next morning I saw the tabloid headline ‘Dyer quits EastEnders!’ It was like a sign. God wants this show to happen!"
Danny: "We were obviously in sync!"
And Danny, what was the main draw for you?
Danny: "I’d really admired Ryan on Plebs (Ryan played Grumio in the award-winning comedy). He was so leftfield and I found him fascinating. We’d talked about doing something together in the future but these things rarely materialise. When Ryan put Mr Bigstuff to me I loved the whole premise and thought it was something very special. I was also really excited about doing comedy. Unfortunately, you don’t get much comedy in EastEnders!"
There is a very funny scene in the opening episode involving spoons and a dance routine. How was that to film?
Ryan: "It’s a bit Michael Flatley, Lord of the Dance…"
Danny: "Michael Flately with spoons! I know I come from East London but I’ve never learned to play the spoons. We had a teacher on set and tried to keep it short and sweet."
Ryan: "It turns out Danny has got snakehips!"
Danny: "We were committed fully to it but both ended up with spoon wounds on our fingers. We were smashing the granny out of them spoons!"
We couldn’t help noticing Lee also has a very unique way of dressing!
Danny: "Yeah. Originally it was going to be swimming shorts, flip-flops and a leather jacket. It ended up being clothes belonging to Glen’s wife, Kirsty, so I was bowling about in a kimono, pink shorts and women’s sunglasses. Luckily it was warm while we were filming!"
Ryan: "He’s meant to be a bit like The Dude in The Big Lebowski (played by Jeff Bridges). Maybe you’ll get to wear trousers if we do a second series!"
You have a great cast including some familiar faces from EastEnders ..
Danny: "The performances in this are unreal. For me, our secret weapon is Fatiha!" (the comedian Fatiha El Ghorri in her first acting role who plays carpet sales assistant, Aysha)
Ryan: "Fatiha was so funny. We’d have these meetings and say to her, ‘So have you learned your lines?’ and she’d be like, ‘Nah…I’ve got to be honest with you, I haven’t yet.’ But then she just got on with it and nailed it. She is so good."
Danny: "Harriet Webb, Adrian Scarborough or Lord Adrian of Scarborough as we called him, Vicky Alcock, they’re all brilliant. We had a really strong little unit."
What was behind the decision to set it in Essex?
Danny: "It was an accent thing weren’t it? I’m not known for me accents."
Ryan: "We’re brothers so It was either going be a Rotherham accent (where Ryan is originally from) or Essex, and I thought, I'm not going to do that to Danny! I grew up in this little village, with all my dad's oddball friends around and I’m interested in suburban places, like the setting in Essex, where strange stuff is happening behind the privet hedges."
There are some very physical scenes. Which were your favourites and did you struggle to get through them without making each other laugh?
Danny: "We've got this great fight club scene where the two brothers strip off and have a fight. That day was a highlight for me, we enjoyed filming that."
Ryan: "They are continually wanting to tear chunks out of each other. They've got so much history between them and there’s stuff they want to dredge up and throw at each other, but ultimately they end up fixing each other's lives."
So as well as the laughs would you say there are some poignant moments too?
Danny: "Yeah, that’s the brilliance of these two brothers. They come together and help out with each other's flaws. Deep down they absolutely do love each other."
Ryan: "Definitely. There's a big plot twist and the whole story is subverted. I'm excited to see what people make of it. Danny is doing some stuff that I think is going to surprise everyone and there’s one particular scene in episode six which we filmed at the Ford factory in Dagenham, where he’s phenomenal. I think it’s going to blow people away."
Ryan, how did you juggle the pressure of writing, producing and acting in this?
"I juggled it really badly! I was going on set and everyone was laughing, and having a lovely time and Danny’s charming everyone. I was riddled with anxiety, like a little troll who lives under the bridge just thinking about all the things that could go wrong!"
Mr Bigstuff airs on Wednesday, July 17, 2024, at 9 pm on Sky Max and Sky Showcase and is available as a boxset.
