Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Screenwriter and playwright best known for His Dark Materials, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, and TV dramas This Is England and Help.
On the island
Eight records
I was a skinny weird kid and then along came this skinny weird knight who was just magnificent and that person was Jarvis Cocker and when he sang this song on stage that night the moment just felt transcendent.
We'd all cram into this car and there were three tapes in the car, all supplied by my big brother Chris. And the three tapes were the pet shop boys, Abba and Jaomi Jaljar.
My mum resigned her membership of the Labour Party when Harriet Harman sent her kid to a grammar school... I joined and became Young Labour officer... It was so much fun.
There's this song Spasticus Autisticus. It was written by Ian Dury in anger at the International Year of Disabled People in 1981. And it's still an anthem for disability.
Stephen started just doing a little bit of choreography. And he did this choreography to Lippy Kids by elbow. I was always right at the back... But there was a moment when the whole room felt beautiful and I felt beautiful.
I wanted to have something that was Shane in this because he changed my life. He taught me how to write... And there's a song that they use in this England called 5446, that's my number by Toots and the Maytals.
Skeleton KeyFavourite
The biggest change in my life was when I met Rachel, my wife... And we were choosing the music we wanted her to walk down the aisle to... She played it. And I just remember just sitting there, just sobbing.
End Credits (from E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial)
This is a love song for him, I think, and it's the end credits to E.T. I sometimes feel I thrust the film upon him... This will make me think of my son.
In conversation
Presenter asks
2:22Your work has such a broad range, from gritty realism like This Is England to full-on fantasy. How easy is it for you to change gears from one genre to another?
Very easy. In fact, it's vital. I stop sleeping if I'm working on one project because I become obsessed with it and not in a healthy way. ... When I was doing Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, for instance, the project I was writing alongside it was a show I did called National Treasure that was about historic sex crimes. ... And so [nothing] has been starker in terms of moving between the two and it kept my brain from rotting.
Presenter asks
4:38Tell me a little bit more about your mum, Maggie.
We were brought up calling them Maggie and Mike because they are people that don't like titles, they like names. So, Maggie is a very, very caring person. ... And I knew the setup quite well. And when this crisis started ... we started researching it, and the more we heard, the more terrible it became. And the way this country behaved during that time towards disabled people ... is extraordinary.
Presenter asks
6:19What was the research that you did for Help? Who did you talk to?
I've done a lot of quite hard-hitting stuff that involve talking to people who had quite a lot of trauma happen to them. This is the rawest I've ever heard people.
The keepsakes
The book
Arthur Miller
I do think in terms of the way of looking at politics and the way of looking at the world, he just was extraordinary and I love his work. I don't think I'd ever get bored of reading them.
The luxury
Television with the entire history of Channel 4
I'd like a television with the entire history of Channel Four loaded onto it.
Presenter asks
14:06What exactly is cholinergic urticaria and how did you deal with it?
It's very unglamorous. It's basically prickly heat. I'm allergic to radiators, sunlight, and body heat. ... So I was flat on my back with all the windows open in Wales in January. ... One doctor told me I wasn't going to get better. ... It feels like you're burning from the inside. ... Interestingly I thought I'd write really well during that time and then I read it all back afterwards and it was so self indulgent. But I got better, slowly but surely. It took about twelve years, I'd say, to sort of feel like I was properly recovered.
Presenter asks
18:34You said in your McTaggart Lecture that TV has failed disabled people totally and utterly. What needs to change in your view?
Lots of things. The most telling statistic that Creative Diversity Network have got a set of figures ... disabled people represent 20% of this population. There are 3.6% of television executives are disabled. So that tells a story of exclusion. ... The director is also not disabled. The writer is also not disabled. And they are telling a story that they are poorly equipped to tell. And so there's no truth in it. And if there's no truth in it, then TV doesn't work.
Presenter asks
22:34You've collaborated with Shane Meadows on This Is England. How did you make the characters so authentic and bring realism to it?
I went to a comp, so it wasn't like so far away in terms of that. Writing is a strange thing in that it's not necessarily about the world people are from, it's about who they are underneath. ... I love Lol, but my particular passion is and always will be Woody. ... And for a moment, by the way, I thought that I was cool because I was with Shane Meadows and that I belonged in that world. And then he cast me as Carrot Bum in This Thing in 86 because, and I quote, he couldn't find an actor lonely or weird enough to play the role. So I was the lonely, weird actor that he was missing. Absolutely. And I love him dearly.
“My wife always says I have no critical faculty whatsoever. Basically, if it's on television, I'll enjoy it.”
“I was a skinny weird kid and then along came this skinny weird knight who was just magnificent and that person was Jarvis Cocker.”
“They thought they were responsible. They were angry with the government... but they kept on saying I let my residents down. There was one woman who said, I let my gentleman down. And they're still carrying the burden for it and no one's looking after them.”
“I said to her, I don't know whether I belong here. And she said, of course you belong. You're a disabled person. And honestly, it was like a weight was lifted.”
“It's the best film about divorce ever made. It's the best film about loneliness ever made. And it's the best film about friendship ever made. And I love it.”