Mr. Bigstuff

Last updated

Mr. Bigstuff
Screenplay by Ryan Sampson
Starring
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series1
No. of episodes6
Production
Executive producers
ProducerHayley Sterling
Production companies
Original release
Network Sky Max

Mr. Bigstuff is a 2024 British comedy series written by Ryan Sampson and starring Sampson, Harriet Webb and Danny Dyer. It premiered on Sky Max in July 2024. It was renewed for a second series in September 2024.

Contents

Premise

Glen, a meek carpet seller is trying to save money for his wedding to fiancé Kirsty who he has told he has no family left is suprised one day to find his bombastic and polar-opposite estranged brother Lee at his house looking for an old friend. [1]

Cast

Production

Development

The six-part series is written by Ryan Sampson and was announced by Sky Comedy in February 2023. It is produced by Sky Studios and Water And Power Productions, with executive producers are Anil Gupta, Jon Mountague, Tom Miller and Sam Myer, and with Hayley Sterling as series producer. [2] Sampson said he drew on his own experiences living near Rotherham, South Yorkshire whilst writing the show and includes characters who resemble "oddball” villagers from his home area of North Anston as well as his experiences with his family after the death of his mother. [3] [4]

It was renewed for a second series in September 2024. [5]

Themes

Themes in the show include masculinity, family and brotherhood, and the expectations for men in modern life with Sampson being quoting as saying "we are asking men to be one thing but then also reviling them for being the same. As a result, you feel a bit tapped between feeling like a big, swaggy, alpha male and a nice, tame man" The series has brothers who "are polar opposites and go about being men in opposite ways, and it gets to both of them". He also said that "I’m 5 foot 5 and as gay as the Easter Bunny, I’ve always felt on the outside looking in. I wanted to write about two men who have different ideas about how to be a man: one’s trying to be a nice guy but feels crippled by it; the other thinks it’s all about action, but can’t face up to his demons." [6] [4]

Casting

The cast is led by Danny Dyer and Ryan Sampson. The pair briefly worked together in 2013 on television series Plebs ans Sampson told the Radio Times that "after Danny had a cameo on Plebs, I got it into my head to write something about us as brothers. I thought it was funny: I'm a tiny gay from up north and he's, well, Danny Dyer". [7] However, Sampson feared it would not happen due to Dyer's commitments with EastEnders . However, Dyer was announced as leaving the soap-opera shortly after Sampson had finished writing the script. [8] Dyer was impressed by the script telling Sky News it was a "clever piece of work. And I think that ultimately, we're making television, we want to entertain people, and so the hardest discipline is to make people laugh... to make them belly laugh - and I think there's some real belly laugh moments in this". [9]

The cast also includes Harriet Webb, Victoria Alcock, Adrian Scarborough, Fatiha El Ghorri, Ned Dennehy, Geoff Bell, Nitin Ganatra, Clive Russell and Judi Love. [10] [11] [12]

Filming

Series one was filmed near Dagenham from October 2023. [13] [14] First look images from filming were released in February 2024. [15]

Broadcast

The series premiered in the United Kingdom on Sky Max on 17 July 2024. [16]

Reception

Sampson and Dyer won the Best Comedy Partnership Award at the I Talk Telly Awards in December 2024. [17]

Critical recaption

Lucy Mangan in The Guardian described the show as demonstrating Dyer's "charisma and comedy chops” and the series as "an amiable enough series of half hours to spend in his company." [18]

Anita Singh in The Daily Telegraph said the "premise is fun" and the "supporting players are solid comedy performers" but felt that Danny Dyer's role was too prescribed to "amuse the kind of “lager, lager, lager” lads who would cheer every time he addressed someone, as he often does here, as a “c---”". [19]

Emily Watkins in i (newspaper) described it as "loud and silly with a surprisingly soft heart" and that "charisma rolls off Dyer”. [20]

Abha Shah in The Evening Standard gave the show two stars and said it was "slow and lacklustre, it leans heavily on Dyer’s real-life character with turns from former on-screen colleagues with no drive of its own". [21]

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References

  1. ↑ Ma, Wenlei (1 August 2024). "Mr Bigstuff: New British comedy a raucous tale of two estranged brothers". The Nightly. Retrieved 12 December 2024.
  2. ↑ "Danny Dyer to star in Mr Bigstuff as part of Sky's 2023 comedy line-up". Comedy.co.uk. 2 February 2023. Retrieved 12 December 2024.
  3. ↑ Westerdale, Bob (19 July 2024). "Mr Bigstuff: How Rotherham actor Ryan Sampson drew on personal experience for new Sky TV show". thestar.co.uk. Retrieved 12 December 2024.
  4. 1 2 Cormack, Morgan (8 July 2024). "Mr Bigstuff creator and star likens series to "Gavin & Stacey in hell"". Radio Times. Retrieved 12 December 2024.
  5. ↑ Godfrey, Jake (5 September 2024). "Ryan Sampson and Danny Dyer sitcom renewed for second series". Film Stories. Retrieved 12 December 2024.
  6. ↑ Mullappilly, Sreejith (20 July 2024). "Ryan Sampson: We ask men to be one thing but also revile them for being the same". Cinema Express. Retrieved 12 December 2024.
  7. ↑ Cormack, Morgan (8 July 2024). "Danny Dyer: 'Mr Bigstuff proved I made the right decision leaving EastEnders'". Radio Times. Retrieved 12 December 2024.
  8. ↑ Harrison, Ellie (17 July 2024). "Danny Dyer and Ryan Sampson on their riotous new comedy Mr Bigstuff: 'I've never claimed to be a hardman'". The Independent. Retrieved 12 December 2024.
  9. ↑ Gregory, Claire (13 July 2024). "Danny Dyer on his first TV comedy Mr Bigstuff: 'It's a lot better than Gavin and Stacey'". Sky News. Retrieved 12 December 2024.
  10. ↑ Fear, Helen (17 July 2024). "As Victoria Alcock appears in Mr Bigstuff, where are the main cast of Bad Girls now". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 12 December 2024.
  11. ↑ Fear, Helen (17 July 2024). "Mr Bigstuff star Judi Love: Son hospitalised, mystery surrounding father of her children, and Graziano Di Prima comments". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 12 December 2024.
  12. ↑ Miller, Chris (12 August 2024). "Brotherly love in Sky Max's Mr Bigstuff". virgin media. Retrieved 12 December 2024.
  13. ↑ "Danny Dyer on playing the bolshy, loud-mouthed brother, Lee in Mr Bigstuff". Sky.com. Retrieved 12 December 2024.
  14. ↑ Prasad, Sumith (6 October 2023). "Sky's Mr Bigstuff Gears Up for Filming in London This Month". The Cinemaholic. Retrieved 12 December 2024.
  15. ↑ Anderton, Joe (19 February 2024). "Danny Dyer in first look at new Sky series". Digital Spy. Retrieved 12 December 2024.
  16. ↑ Richardson, Hollie (17 July 2024). "TV tonight: Danny Dyer is back on top geezer form in a new comedy". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 December 2024.
  17. ↑ Westerdale, Bob (10 December 2024). "Top showbiz award for comedian Ryan Sampson". Rotherham Advertiser. Retrieved 12 December 2024.
  18. ↑ Mangan, Lucy (17 July 2024). "Mr Bigstuff review – Danny Dyer does the business". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 December 2024.
  19. ↑ Singh, Anita (17 July 2024). "Mr Bigstuff, review: it's amusing, but Danny Dyer needs to move on from the 'Danny Dyer' act". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 12 December 2024.
  20. ↑ "Danny Dyer was made for a pukka sitcom like Mr Bigstuff". inews. 17 July 2024. Retrieved 12 December 2024.
  21. ↑ Shah, Abha (9 July 2024). "Mr Bigstuff on Sky Max review: even for Danny Dyer fans, this is tedious stuff". Evening Standard. Retrieved 12 December 2024.
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