Comedy sketch show Lazy Susan made its debut on BBC Three in 2019 with a one-off pilot episode featuring the eponymous comedy duo – aka Celeste Dring and Freya Parker – performing sketches and songs.
Now it’s back with a new four-part series which is included in the programming for the relaunch of BBC Three as it goes back on air after going online in 2016.
The channel will kick off its comeback with RuPaul’s Drag Race UK Versus The World, which will see drag queens from the UK version of the franchise compete against international stars. Find out more about what’s on by checking our TV Guide here.
‘Lazy Susan’ release date
The four-part series begins on BBC3 on Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2022, at 10.15pm.
‘Lazy Susan’ cast – who are they?
Lazy Susan is not just the title of the series, it’s also the name of comedy double act Celeste Dring and Freya Parker. They formed in 2013 and performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe for a number of years before bursting onto our screens in the 2019 pilot episode of the sketch show.
As well as being part of a double act, the girls have also had their own solo projects…
Celeste starred as Kayleigh Hudson in BBC Three comedy This Country and played Princess Eugenie in C4’s royal comedy The Windsors. She’s also appeared in BBC1’s 2018 drama series Wanderlust, which also starred Toni Collette and Steven Mackintosh. Her other TV credits include Josh, Last Night in Soho, and Ladhood.
Freya’s first TV role was in ITV’s Blue Murder (2007), the crime drama starring Caroline Quentin as DCI Janine Lewis. Since then, she’s had roles in BBC1’s long-running drama Silent Witness, BBC2 comedy Mister Winner and BBC2’s satirical comedy show Late Night Mash. She will also appear in the upcoming movies Jurassic Park: Dominion, alongside Jeff Goldblum and Chris Pratt, and Wonka, which is about the early years of Roald Dahl’s literary creation, Willy Wonka.
‘Lazy Susan’ Q&A - meet comedy duo Celeste and Freya
Here we chat to the stars of Lazy Susan, Celeste Dring, and Freya Parker, about the new series, their comedy heroes, where they get their ideas from, and why working with mates can be dangerous…
How would you describe 'Lazy Susan'?
CELESTE: "We’re a comedy double act and we do sketch comedy. That’s basically it!"
Will we see any characters from the pilot you did in 2019 in the series?
CELESTE: "Some of the criticism that’s leveled at sketch shows quite a lot is when they recycle characters over and over again so we were quite keen not to do that much. Michaela and Megan, the girls who don’t want any drama come back. They’re actually quite rich characters so we wanted to explore them a bit more."
Tell us more about Megan and Michaela…
CELESTE: "The way they speak is very Love island. The whole mechanism of those TV shows is always to create drama and tension even if there isn’t any. They are oblivious to the fact they self create the drama. They think that they are the victims of something when they’re the perpetrators."
As BBC Three returns as a channel, how does it feel to be part of its relaunch?
CELESTE: "It’s really cool!"
FREYA: "I’m really glad it’s coming back as a channel. I’m proud to be a part of it. It’s hard to break into TV, but I feel like BBC Three gives people lots of opportunities and they often go on to bigger things. For instance, Fleabag started at the Edinburgh Festival before it was on BBC Three. It’s a stepping stone."
How did you meet?
FREYA: "We met through a friend of a friend. I was doing a play in London and I got talking to the assistant director one night about writing and he said that he was trying to write with a friend of his and that we should all get together. So he introduced me to Celeste and we tried to write some very serious drama about grief which was awful.
"We started to little bits of comedy and in 2013 we did a half-hour show at the Edinburgh Festival just to have a go. We thought it went well so we just kept on going. We got into it by accident really."
Where do you get the ideas for your sketches?
FREYA: "I think from observing people and sometimes you might hear snippets of conversation or see something on TV. Or maybe you do a stupid voice that becomes a character and ends up in the show as a sketch. It’s a mixture."
CELESTE: "I guess you just try to keep attuned to what’s happening around you and you collect ideas. You pick up bits here and there making notes and then eventually something will click. I’ve always got notes on my phone and I’ve got a notebook by my bed so I might jot something down in the night thinking I know what that means but then I’ll look at it in the morning thinking that’s incomprehensible!"
Tell us about some of your favourite sketch shows and comedy heroes…
CELESTE: "Big Train, Smack the Pony… Big British sketch shows in that vein. It’s died a little bit here but that’s largely budget. They are extremely expensive to produce. So they’re very high risk. Sketch comedy has been usurped by online content and it’s thriving. It’s never really died in America. Portlandia is one of our favorite US shows. I love it."
FREYA: "I Think You Should Leave as well. I don’t know if it changed the game but it definitely showed another sort of area of possibility."
CELESTE: "In terms of comedy heroes, there are loads of our peers we love and admire. Kristin Wig is one of my all-time performance heroes. She can do anything and it’s effortless and light and easy and it’s never forced. I think she’s great. Key & Peele are great, and Julia Davis has been a big inspiration, too."
FREYA: "Also, Garth Marenghi’s Dark Place, which is kind of sketchy and genre-bending, and Vic and Bob's Big Night Out, which had sketches but was a kind of talk show. People like [comedian] Alice Lowe (Horrible Histories, Black Mirror), too. There are loads."
Alice Lowe worked as a script editor on the series. How was that?
FREYA: "We didn’t know her we just sort of fan-girled her and asked our producer if she would have a coffee with us. She was amazing because she’s so inventive and has got such a breadth of knowledge. She was great. Script editors can help you shape your ideas before they get into production so it was very cool to work with her."
Tell us about some of the people that are also in the series…
FREYA: "We were really shy about asking people. We were so delighted when they said yes because pretty much all of them were our mates and people we really admire. It was great to see a lot of people in person after a year and a half of not seeing anybody."
CELESTE: "We were really excited about getting [comedian] James Acaster (Taskmaster, Hypothetical) in a sketch. We did this sketch where I jump on him and start taking my clothes off, but he doesn’t say anything. He was brilliant and I loved the fact he was up for that. It can be a bit dangerous having your mates involved because it can feel like you’re just hanging out when you’ve got to get things filmed. You can’t be corpsing while that’s happening!"
