Posted in: Current News, streaming, TV | Tagged: Big Boys, channel 4, derry girls, doctor who, ghosts, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, ted lasso

I Went To The Premiere Of The Second Season Of Channel 4's Big Boys

So, yeah, I sat next to Phoebe Waller-Bridge to watch the premiere of the second season of Big Boys last night, why, what did you do?

I realised when watching the first season of Big Boys, the university-set coming-of-age sitcom from Channel 4 in 2022, how special from a moment in its second episode. When one of the two main leads, Danny, talks about Anne Frank having to stay in the attic until she got adopted. When challenged over this by Jack, reminding Danny that she was hiding from the Nazis, Danny asked incredulously if there were really Nazis in the Dumping Ground. He is told by Jack very gingerly and sweetly, "I think you have managed to mix up The Diary Of Anne Frank with Tracy Beaker." At that point, I was totally in for this show for whatever they threw at me, and I wasn't alone in that. And they threw a lot. University is a time for finding yourself, throwing everything against you and see what – or who – sticks. It is, by nature, very messy. The show, set in the early nineties, took me right back a decade, far more reflective of my own nineties experiences than something like the Young Ones ever was.

The second season of Big Boys was released on the premium pay service Channel 4+ over Christmas, but because I am still a student skinflint at heart, I was going to wait till this Sunday for the free-to-air release on Channel 4 and the 4 App. That was until I was invited to the Big Boys Season Two premiere last night at Regent Street Cinema in London, just opposite BBC Broadcasting House. Channel 4, as they did with the Curse launch event, had gone to town transforming the venue to reflect the show itself, whether the choice of food and drinks, the disgusting toilets, the sofas and props, and even the staff replicating Katy Wix's role in the series as an annoying, over the top and inappropriate student advisor.

The cast of Big Boys remains a murder's row of talent: Dylan Llewellyn from Derry's Girls as Jack (Siobhán McSweeney was hosting the Q&A, and we are promised that Louisa Harland will appear in the new season), Jon Pointing from Plebs as Danny, Izuka Hoyle from Boiling Point, Olisa Odele from Chewing Gum and It's A Sin, Harriet Webb from I May Destroy You, Katy Wix from Ghosts and Ted Lasso, Camille Coduri from Doctor Who and Him And Her, Annette Badland from Doctor Who and Ted Lasso, Sheila Reid from Doctor Who and Benidorm, Lucia Keskin from Sneakerhead and Things You Should Have Done and multiple guest stars layered on top.

Much of the Big Boys cast and crew were out for the premiere, as well as friends of the production. Phoebe Waller-Bridge, whose early work appeared alongside the show's writer and creator Jack Rooke at the Soho Theatre, brought her entourage and cheered like everyone else. A semi-autobiographical series, Jack brought his mum and her best friend, who were the basis for characters in the show. And in season two, he has deliberately moved some of the action away from the campus, into both Jack and Danny's home lives. A line that seemed a throwaway in the first season, Danny talking about having a friend he visits in West London, in an exclusive invite-only area known as Wormwood Scrubs, gets expanded into reality, as Danny's dad is also back on the scene, even as his Nan threatens to leave it. We also get expanded roles for Jack's cousin Shannon, who becomes a real comic focus for the show.

But I was also looking for something that would knock me on the floor, like the Tracy Beaker line, and I did. No, I'm not spoiling it, but it was delivered by Olisa Odele, off-camera in the utterly hilarious webcam scenes; I was shaken with laughter and applauded in my seat, to find the rest of the audience doing the same. I will want it on a T-shirt. I asked Olisa Odele about this afterwards, and he talked about doing repeat takes of that one line in a booth to get the exact intonation. It was well worth it and, in the moment, was the funniest line I'd seen on a screen this century. The morning after, I haven't changed my mind about that.

Set in the second year of university, it makes a lot of emphasising that the first year never counts, but the second year does, a clever narrative trick to make the audience pay attention. Stuff will go down and will go down hard. The first season was informed by loss, and maybe finding a way to move on, the second season has a complex mix of challenges… asking what now? And filling it with.. well, everything. With Izuka Hoyle and Olisa Odele's roles expanded into four leads alongside Dylan Llewellyn and Jon Pointing, they truly work together as complex, interconnecting housemates now, even as the original two characters' lives expand further out in time and space. The show is riotous and glorious, and while it has a lot of cringe, there is also consideration, comfort and kindness. It chooses to suggest grossness more than it portrays it; Big Boys finds heart in the heartless, and justm akes you want to give everyone a hug. As long as your Asos fleece doesn't get stuck in their beard.

Here's a little look at how the night went down. The video for the Q&A is up top. A gallery of photos is below and even a TikTok from the evening. And yes, I took a frigging selfie with Camille Coduri. I never do them, but I couldn't not, especially after discovering just how eager, effervescent and life-affirming she is in person. She seizes the day, and so did I. Big Boys season 1 is on the 4 App, season 2 is on the +4 premium account, but will be free-to-air on Sunday when the first two episodes of season 2 is broadcast on Channel 4 at 10 pm and 10.30 pm. And I'll get to watch the final three episodes of season two. It's going to break my heart, isn't it?

Yes, that's Jack Rooke and the toilet wall drawing I did of him. I also got to meet his real-life mum, who is so, so proud of her son…

@thatrichjohnston Premiere party for Big Boys season 2 for Channel 4 at the Regent Street Cinema #channel4 #bigboys #london #premiere ♬ original sound – Rich Johnston

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