Siobhan Bachman interview
Sunday 11th September 2011
An interview with Tiger Aspect's Siobhan Bachman, who has most recently produced Sky1's new comedy drama Mount Pleasant (pictured)...
Hi Siobhan. How would you describe Mount Pleasant?
I think it's the portrayal of a real marriage, which you don't see on television. There's lots of people splitting up and having affairs, particularly in soaps, but in comedy you don't really see a real marriage, but what makes it exciting is we really enjoyed showing the love between a husband and wife on television.
What do you think the appeal of Mount Pleasant is?
It's a family you'd want to be in. Bobby Ball and Pauline Collins who play Lisa's parents come in at unexpected times and they're a pain in the arse to her but she adores them and they'd do anything for her. Society's very fractured now, so it's nice to watch a family that works well.
It's very much like watching The Office - everyone was on tenterhooks wondering if Dawn and Tim would get together; when we were working on the Christmas special, the scripts would have to be left in special envelopes at BBC Stage Door because everyone was so interested in it.
Marc Blake proposed that in times of recession and austerity, the nation looks for warmth in its comedy. Do you think that's still relevant?
Absolutely. And we wanted to represent the North, especially the part of South Manchester where [Mount Pleasant writer] Sarah Hooper comes from, people are doing quite well for themselves, so we didn't want to show Manchester as being 'it's grim up North', we wanted to represent what Sarah sees, which is a colourful, glossy world.
Mount Pleasant shows a successful, middle class version of the north of England, which goes against the traditional representation. Are there any other stereotypes that you think need challenging?
Yes. What I found exciting about Mount Pleasant is that it's Lisa's show, and she's a real woman and there aren't many real women on television. The last time there was a woman on television who caused a stir was when Ab Fab came out. People were horrified that there was a woman falling around drunk. Lisa doesn't fall around drunk, but I'm quite proud to be part of a show that has a huge amount of female focus but not in a clichéd way. Sarah and I aren't very keen on shows like Sex in the City which have quite a stereotypical representation of women and this felt much more real. But the men aren't fops, it's not a men-hating show, lots of shows make the women strident but the men pushovers, so it's important that when Lisa's out of order Dan has a go at her.
Lisa's a pain in the arse, but she's sweet because she wants him to love her.
Mount Pleasant is on Sky1 on Wednesdays. Guide to Mount Pleasant