Stephen Merchant on The Outlaws season 2: ‘It’s like Ocean’s Eleven!’

“We had lovely feedback on social media. I got messages from people who had done community service and people engaged with the mix of thriller and humour. What’s fun about season two is that people know the world and are hopefully on the characters’ sides cheering for them.”

“Any headaches that occurred in the first season, we magnify them. Everything comes back more scary and dangerous than they could have imagined. Then it’s about how they get themselves out of it. We are also leaning into the tragedies of each character and we turn the screw with that. But it’s also fun because there’s a big heist sequence and we see Frank more as a con man. It’s like Ocean's Eleven!” 

“Yes, the thing that seemed interesting to me about the idea of community service is the unlikely friendships that occur with people from different walks of life. Greg and Gabby are very different and would probably never have a friendship except for this situation. Now they become this odd couple and even share a flat. And John [the businessman played by Darren Boyd] and Myrna [the activist played by Clare Perkins] who were at loggerheads in the first season are finding comradeship.” 

“There was quite a lot of outrage! The reaction was a mix of, ‘There's no way that’s real,’ and ‘How dare they destroy a Banksy!’ But Banksy has destroyed his own work in the past in fun ways, so we found a go-between and he was up for the idea. He must have come over the fence one night because we didn’t see him and then one morning we came in and there was a Banksy!”

“I did manage to go to Stonehenge with Christopher Walken! If you had asked the 14-year-old Stephen growing up in Bristol, would he one day go to Stonehenge with the Oscar-winning star of The Deer Hunter, he’d have said, ‘It’s unlikely!’ But there I was.”

“I’m a jack of all trades, master of none. I’d like to direct a European arthouse film and win an Oscar but also direct a Marvel movie. And I’d like people to say, ‘He’s one of the greatest stand-ups of all time!’ I started dabbling in serious acting when I played a serial killer [Stephen Port in BBC One’s Four Lives] so I’d like to do more. Then people can say, ‘We thought he was just a gangly comedian but look at the depth!’ My dream is to become a national treasure, but my anxiety is that I don’t make it into the In Memoriam film at the BAFTAs when I’m dead. Everything I’m doing is to make sure I’m there!”

“For me, my height is sort of normal and a bit boring. But people find it endlessly amusing and fascinating! I was in a pub not long ago, and I ordered a drink and a bloke said, ‘That's a tall order’, and everyone laughed. I get that constantly. And the number of times I've been asked if I play basketball. Unless you're recruiting for a basketball team though, why are you asking?! But I'm in LA at the moment and you always forget when you see other actors around that most of them are very short. So maybe that's the reason, there aren't actually that many of us in entertainment. It’s me and Vince Vaughn and Jeff Goldblum!"