Gary Janetti interview
Vicious writer Gary Janetti explains more about his show here...
What inspired you to write Vicious?
I thought the idea of a gay couple being together for a very long time was something that we hadn't seen before. The best sitcoms are always the simplest. I also thought that people might see themselves in that central relationship. It's like when I created the characters of Will and Grace - people certainly recognised themselves in those characters.
At first, the idea of a couple who been together almost 50 years seems unusual, and yet when you watch it, you realise it is just about two people and how they interact. There are common elements in their relationship that everyone will identify with. Anyone who's been in a relationship will relate to the idea of saying horrible things to each other. It's their way of communicating with each other. The vicious things they say to each other actually come from a place of love. Everyone will be able to connect with that.
Could you please expand on Freddie and Stuart's relationship?
We often communicate with those we love in this horrible way. Every relationship is a kind of hell to a degree. When you become entwined with another person, both the good and bad sides come out. The best face that we put on at the beginning soon slips and the worst face emerges. Multiply that by 49 years, and you have got a lot of opportunity for comedy. It's important that the parameters are set at the beginning and that we know they love each other very deeply. Then we can get away with a lot more. If cruelty comes from a place of love, then it is much funnier.
Karen in Will & Grace could be horrible, but we laughed with her because we knew she was a vulnerable person and we were seeing a three-dimensional performance. It's much funnier when it's not just vicious. From the title, this might appear to be just one thing, but in fact love and viciousness, affection and hate are two sides of the same coin.
Did you write the characters of Freddie and Stuart with Ian and Derek in mind?
Yes. At the beginning, they were mentioned as the dream casting, and after that I thought those characters could not be played by anyone else. That was part of the appeal. I wouldn't be sitting here today if it wasn't Ian and Derek in those roles. I just knew that they would bring a whole new dimensional to the show, and I was right. They have given us something quite extraordinary.
Can you please explain exactly what Ian and Derek add to their roles?
They have been friends for 50 years, and their history together is something quite special. You couldn't get that in any other way. It gives the show a different level of reality. It's a beautiful way of communicating the fact that this couple is infused with history. It endows the show with a richness that wasn't there on the page. What they bring goes beyond what I could have ever imagined.
What does the studio audience contribute to the show?
I love a studio audience in this kind of comedy. They bring an incredible energy to the room. That energy infuses the whole evening and that translates onto the screen.
Do you think the show is brave?
No. I want it to be a show that people connect with. If someone sees it as brave, that's wonderful, but we don't think of it in those terms. We just hope it's really funny.