Yahoo News Peep Show writer says 'cancer comedy' wasn't easy sell
"I've done cancer, terrorism, paedophiles... I'm ticking off a good list..."
Sam Bain - co-creator of Peep Show and Fresh Meat, and co-writer of the movie Four Lions - knows he might be courting controversy with his new comedy series Ill Behaviour.
The three-parter stars Chris Geere (You're The Worst) as Joel, who goes to extreme lengths to save his best friend after Charlie (Tom Riley) refuses treatment for cancer.
"It's more about friendship than it is about cancer," Bain tells Digital Spy.
"I've had experiences with friends - who've been in bad relationships, or whatever - and you wish you could just grab the steering wheel of their life, and turn it sharp to the right... nd of course you can't.
"You have to sit back and let them make their own mistakes. So the show's really a wish fulfilment fantasy - about taking that steering wheel, against their will."
Newly-divorced Joel ends up kidnapping Charlie, with a struck-off doctor (Lizzy Caplan) helping him to administer chemotherapy – and Bain admits that Ill Behaviour's darkly comic premise was a tough sell until the BBC "took a chance" on his script.
"Whenever I pitched it, people always looked a bit alarmed," he admits. "Like, 'Oh, that sounds interesting'.
"Originally I wrote it as a film, with Iain Morris and Damon Beesley of The Inbetweeners fame, but the film was really hard to get made, partly because films generally are, but also it just wasn't an easy sell."
Once Ill Behaviour was ordered to series, Bain made sure he was on set for every day of the shoot, and "really kept an eye" on the tone of the series.
"We all knew there's potential for going wrong here - to blend tragedy, disease and death with knockabout farce and one-liners... it's quite a difficult cocktail. You have to be careful with all the details, I think."
All three episodes of Ill Behaviour debuted on BBC iPlayer last month as a box-set, with a BBC Two airing following this Sunday night. It's a method of release that has allowed Bain a taste of what the reaction might be like.
"Certainly on Twitter, I've had quite a few people sending messages saying they liked it. I think it'll be a bit different on BBC Two - because obviously on TV, people just switch it on and see what's on.
"They don't neccesarily go out of their way to hunt the show down... so you might get people who hate it, which I'm bracing myself for. But hopefully not!"
Ill Behaviour begins Sunday, August 20 at 10pm on BBC Two.
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