Steve Coogan and Henry Normal interview
Steve Coogan and Henry Normal, the Executive Producers on Starlings from production company Baby Cow, talk about producing the comedy drama.
How did Starlings come to you at Baby Cow and what about it appealed to you?
Henry Normal: Matt King brought it in. We were working with Steve Edge on another project and he said 'I'm working with Matt King'. Matt came in, explained what they were working on and we liked it, so we asked them to write a script.
Steve Coogan[: It had the draw of Gavin & Stacey with a bit more dysfunction. It was neither mawkish and hokey nor self-consciously hip.
Normal: What we liked was the fact that they're drawing on their experiences - it's quite an autobiographical piece, which I think is the best way. You can get a lot of truth in to a script using elements of your own life and elements of people you know.
What sort of a comedy is it?
Normal: It is one of the few comedies on TV where you can actually believe that it exists, that it's a real world. A lot of comedies are quite heightened. There's a fashion at the moment to have a level of obviousness that is quite stagey. Whereas what we've tried to do at Baby Cow is to get at more naturalism. This is a comedy drama, each episode is 44 minutes long and to sustain that time you've got to have the emotion there. You've got to love the characters, enjoy being with them. So the Starlings are very rounded, real people, not cartoons. There was a lovely shot I saw when we were filming the family going to the Ashover agricultural show: I was looking at it thinking, 'but they're just people.' And then I thought that's great - they don't look like actors. They just look like people at the show. Every aspect of the production - the way we shoot it, the wardrobe, the acting - is all done so that they're like our friends.
How does it fit in to the sort of work Baby Cow aims to do?
Coogan: Without wanting to sound pompous, we don't make shows we don't genuinely believe in. We are not cynical. I think we try to make programmes that are both fresh and populist.
How do you ensure that a warm-hearted comedy like this doesn't become overly cloying or sentimental?
Coogan: There are no rules: it is often a case-by-case judgement call, one that's made in the writing, directing or editing. Sometimes you have to have the conviction to stay with the sentiment and not apologise for it with a joke.
Normal: And actually I think it's funnier when you like people. Go back to people like Bernard Manning or Jim Davidson - I find it very difficult to laugh with them, even if they're technically correct. There's something about when you're with friends - if you like somebody it's a richer laugh involved. I think that's what we've got here. We've got a family where you want to be part of that family. You enjoy it more because you feel part of it.
The show is set in Matlock. What sort of place is it, and is it important to the comedy?
Normal: The world's a little slower. There's not that much to be doing of a Friday night in Matlock. People spend a bit more time with the family and I think that comes out in the piece. And let's face it, there are a lot of these types of places up and down the country that are a little bit smaller, a little bit tamer in their urbanness. It's nice to see one on screen.
What have the cast members got that makes them believable characters and a believable family?
Coogan: They are so comfortable with one another: you believe they are a family. When you watch it you think, I want to spend time around the kitchen table with them.
How did you decide on Brendan Coyle and Lesley Sharp in the leads?
Normal: We knew almost straight away that we wanted them. I think sometimes people forget they can do comedy because they do drama so well. I've been a big fan of Lesley's since Rita, Sue and Bob Too. She's got an honesty about her that you want, and she's a powerful female presence who's not a shrinking violet. As for Brendan, he has an inbuilt integrity. You always feel like what you're seeing is just the tip of the iceberg. And I should add that I'm such a big fan of Downton Abbey. I thought he actually had a limp so it was good to find out that he hadn't. That's how good an actor he is, you see.