I'm With Stupid by Danny Peak - new comedy series for BBC THREE
Starts Sunday 10 September 2006 at 10.00pm
Introduction
"genuine wit and grip, the pilot episode
felt like it was ready for take-off" -
The Independent
"an excellent comedy with some sharp one-liners
and original characters" – Daily
Mirror
"a terrific half-hour of comedy" – Daily
Herald
"a bittersweet comedy gem" – Nuts
Following the success of the pilot last year, the critically-acclaimed comedy I'm
With Stupid comes to BBC THREE.
Mark Benton (Early Doors, Northern Lights) heads the cast in a series which explores disability in a funny and truthful way.
He plays Sheldon, a homeless man who strikes up an unlikely
relationship with Paul, a wheelchair user, played by Paul
Henshall (Holby
City, A Thing Called Love).
Paul and Sheldon are both feeling rejected by society and each has something that the other wants – Sheldon offers friendship to Paul who is lonely and despondent while Paul provides Sheldon with a bed for the night, taking him away from the streets where he has been sleeping rough.
Sheldon enters the weird and wonderful world of Bramble Lodge,
the sheltered accommodation where Paul lives and discovers that the community
is rife with gambling, scheming and unrequited love.
I'm With Stupid continues the BBC's commitment to feature more actors with disabilities on screen.
Alan Martin plays Graham who uses a Voice Communication Aid,
Kevin Davids plays Syd and Cherylee
Houston plays Dorothy.
Other cast includes
Ruth Jones (Nighty Night, Fat Friends) who plays Jean, the warden at
the sheltered accommodation where Paul lives, and Steve
Edge (Peep Show) plays
Sergeant Swithenback.
I'm With Stupid is written by Danny Peak, whose career took off when he won the BBC Talent new sitcom writers award in 2002.
Danny went on to write episodes of Two Pints of Lager and A
Packet of Crisps and My Hero. He has had the writing bug all his life but
always wanted to write for television.
Danny says: "I was writing all through my teens and twenties and I'd send unsolicited
scripts to the BBC. It was always sitcom scripts, it was never stories or films
or sketches, always half-hour BBC sitcoms."
Danny's inspiration comes from classic sitcoms like Only Fools and Horses and Sergeant Bilko.
"Sergeant Bilko would be a different scam every week: people stealing money off each other, people keeping secrets from each other. I think stories like that work quite well in very small environments.
"I like characters who never learn from their mistakes, like Sheldon. Things go wrong for him every week, he finds out that he can't trust people and yet he's still willing to do it again.
"I like the fact that Sheldon has come from a very tough
background. There are still things that we don't know about his background,
but he's obviously had a very hard life, he's lived on the streets, he's
seen the worst that people have to offer and yet he's still kind of very
emotionally naïve, trusting and friendly."
Danny's favourite character is Paul: "I like the way that Paul Henshall plays
him. I think he manages to make a very scheming, unlikeable character kind of
charming!"
When the residents of Bramble Lodge plan a poker game against the rules, Paul suspects that Sheldon is a gambling addict.
"I like the fact that Paul, who is someone who has suffered all his life from people making assumptions about him, is the first one to jump to conclusions about other people," says Danny.
"For example, Paul assumes that Sheldon is a tramp, that he
earns thirty grand a year from begging, that he's on drugs and he's a criminal.
It's interesting to give some of the prejudices to Paul, rather than have
other people make judgements about him."
The idea for I'm With Stupid originally came from 23-year-old writer Peter
Keeley, who drew on his own experiences when he became the story consultant on the series.
Peter has Cerebral Palsy and has used a wheelchair from an
early age. Having won competitions as a teenager for his scriptwriting at
Manchester's Contact Theatre, Peter is currently studying Creative Writing
at Manchester University.
Peter doesn't agree that the character Paul comes across as charming. "He's not a very nice person!" laughs Peter, "I'm With Stupid shows disabled people as real people, rather than putting them on a pedestal."
I'm With Stupid is produced by BBC Comedy North which is based in Manchester and aims to develop the next generation of comedy talent in the North of England. Executive producer is Kenton
Allen and the series producer is Jon Mountague.
BBC THREE is continuing to offer comedy on demand via its website, offering premieres,
seven day catch-up and stacking of all episodes for seven days after the
final show on TV goes out. This is a continuation of the BBC TV Plus trial.
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