Red Oaks star Craig Roberts believes he would have enjoyed growing up in the Eighties, but feels he would have been 'not very cool'.
Set in the colourful decade, Red Oaks is a comedy-of-age comedy that tells the story of David Myers - played by Craig - a young man who spends his days working as a tennis pro at the Red Oaks Country Club in New Jersey, and the rest of his time trying to find out what life’s all about.
Talking to What's on TV about his role in the new Amazon Prime series, Craig said: “It's about him navigating his way through this world full of idiosyncratic characters and basically trying to find out who he is and what he wants to do. He’s just this average guy trying to survive, which is very relatable.” "]
Craig admits he had to play a lot of tennis for the role, but doubts he'll be appearing at Wimbledon any time soon.
"I'm OK, I was bad and then I got better, but that’s it. I'm not Murray! I’m playing most of it and it was a lot of tennis, but it was good. It's like I turned up to do a job and played tennis for all of it – it was fun!"
Although Craig, who's actually Welsh, wasn't born until 1991, he's sure he would have enjoyed being a child of the Eighties.
“I would have liked to have worn denim on denim and for that to be acceptable," he said. "I think the Eighties are cool. I love Eighties movies because there's a lot of innocence in them, so I would like to have been there. Don't know how I would've been though – probably not very cool."
David’s mother in Red Oaks is played by none other than Jennifer Grey, star of classic Eighties movies Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and Dirty Dancing.
“She's amazing, she's the loveliest person I've ever met in my life," said Craig. "She definitely had anecdotes about the Eighties and I just wanted to pick her brains about Ferris Bueller because I think that's such an interesting movie. The main character skips school and goes to an art gallery, that's badass! That wouldn't be badass now. You have to blow a house up or do something to impress people."
At just 24, Richard has achieved more than most his age. Starring in TV favourites Skins and Being Human, Craig also won critical acclaim for his standout role in the film Submarine and has recently directed hisn own feature film, Just Jim. Despite all this, Craig says he doesn't feel famous.
"I'm not famous - I don't know what it means to be famous," he said. "It's a very weird thing. I kind of just work then hide away or hibernate, so I'm not very involved in the cult that is fame."
Watch Craig in Red Oaks, all episodes coming exclusively to Amazon Prime on Friday October 9.
