Big Boys creator pleads for ‘compassion’ for young people in TV industry

Big Boys creator Jack Rooke put out a plea for compassion for “vulnerable” young people in the TV industry who do negative things.

He was speaking at the Edinburgh TV Festival, held in the Scottish capital annually, and was due to appear at a session with Alma’s Not Normal creator and actress Sophie Willan, who could not attend due to illness.

During the Tuesday opening talk, part of the orange-coloured decoration for the stage fell down near him, and he joked that Willan “knew”, and that was why she did not attend the session.

Rooke, who describes himself as having a working class background and has spoken about being gay, also told the delegates: “I really feel like when you meet younger talent, I think it’s really a case of being patient and compassionate and considerate of how behaviour isn’t always because somebody is acting up, just sometimes it’s because they are incredibly vulnerable, and they deserve, a bit of safeguarding.”

He added that BBC’s director of comedy commissioning Jon Petrie would have informal discussions with him that helped him.

Rooke said: “It’s just (about) giving people options, asking people questions. It’s kind of like talking therapy, but that’s not a producer’s job, but it’s definitely about just meeting somebody with a real open mind.”

He says with Big Boys, which deals with LGBT+ themes and grief, he thinks “it feels very safe and very loving, and people feel quite represented by the stories that end up on the screen”.

Rooke said he “doesn’t really overly consider myself as an LGBT writer”.

He added: “Really most of the characters in Big Boys are quite straight… but I feel more defined by going through (being)… working class or going through grief, or those things have defined my identity.”

Rooke collected a gong for best writer for a comedy for his Channel 4 semi-autobiographical sitcom Big Boys at the 2024 Bafta Television Craft Awards.

Alma’s Not Normal, which won a best comedy Broadcasting Press Guild award in 2022, is set in Willan’s home town of Bolton, and sees her draw on her own unusual life experiences.

She is set to star in the second series of the BBC show, which has a cast including Happy Valley actress Siobhan Finneran and Bridgerton star Lorraine Ashbourne.

It stars Derry Girls actor Dylan Llewellyn and Jon Pointing as they play characters attending university that are mismatched.

Advisory chairman Harjeet Chhokar, who is an unscripted Amazon MGM Studios executive and worked on Prime Video’s Clarkson’s Farm, and Rowan Woods, the creative director of the event, officially welcomed delegates on the first day.