In a career spanning film, comedy, drama and documentary work, Andy Harries has been involved in everything from Cold Feet to Cracker, and The Royle Family to World in Action, and even Oscar-winning hit The Queen. But his latest project, a sketch show starring a collection of teenagers, has been, in his own words, 'one of the most uplifting experiences' of his career.
Here, he talks about the origins of School of Comedy, why it was so much fun to make, and what it was like to work alongside his son, who stars in the series.
School of Comedy is a sketch show, performed by children. Where did it originate?
Well, at the age of 12 my son got involved in this after-school comedy club. I didn't quite know what he was getting involved with, but he was very excited and kept on doing it. He's always loved comedy. Then they started performing at school, then doing performances in clubs around London, and then went to the Edinburgh Festival. And when they went to the Edinburgh Festival, I went with him, because obviously he was too young to go on his own, and I started to go and see the show every day. I noticed how fast the kids were learning, and how confident they were becoming. The audience reaction was fantastic - they obviously loved watching kids doing material that was adult, and handling it so competently. It was a few weeks later that I was thinking about it when I thought 'Gosh, there is a good TV show in there.' I suddenly saw what it could be, and that was what we've ended up with - a sketch show with strong returning characters, and a range of different styles of comedy and comedy ideas within it.
The kids who appear in the series are hugely talented. Did you have to disappoint some of those in the club by not allowing them to take part?
No, all the kids who were in the original troupe are in the show, and we added a couple of young actors who came to us on recommendation.
The kids had to fit in schoolwork while they were on set, didn't they?
Yeah, they did. We had to have a mobile classroom with us while we were shooting. Obviously they didn't particularly like having to do the school work, but they loved being out of school and being able to perform. They are all natural performers, and the more they did it the more they loved it. It was rather blissful working with a bunch of actors without any egos. Really, the biggest problem we had was too much laughter.
Yeah, on the documentary about School of Comedy, it does look like there's quite a lot of corpsing going on during filming.
Yeah, there was quite a lot. My son Jack and Will Poulter did a sketch together, and it was a miracle we ever got the sketch finished because they just could not stop laughing. But that's a luxury, to have laughter rather than tears and tantrums.
So it was a harmonious and relaxed atmosphere on set?
Yes, it was. And it as really exciting. The enjoyment the kids got out of it was enormously rewarding. I honestly found it one of the most uplifting experiences of my career, to make this show. We started with nothing apart from a bunch of talented kids, and a very good set of writers. There's a tremendous sense of achievement, for all of us, to have created something like this. I think all of the kids who want to have a longer term future in this area could have one. And as they get older and pull out of the troupe and move on, we would have the opportunity to perhaps replenish the troupe with new kids, so that every year or so we have a turnover, with 18 being the upper age limit.
Do you think a lot of the kids will want to do this as a career?
I don't think any of them have signed up for that, nor have they ruled it out. I think Will Poulter is pretty much guaranteed a career - he's already out there in the business anyway. He was in Son of Rambow, and he's now out in New Zealand filming the third instalment of the Narnia films. He is undoubtedly destined for a proper career. I hope the show acts as a great launch pad for all of them. But I hope they don't leave the show yet.
Was it an odd experience being on set with your son? Did you have to be careful not to single him out either for praise or criticism?
It's a good question. He was in it before I was involved, and as everyone who was in the troupe made the TV series, there was no nepotism involved. I left all of the decisions about who was in which sketch to the producer, Jenna. I didn't want to interfere too much. But it was great, working with him, it worked fine.
As a father, do you have misgivings about your son making moves into such a capricious industry?
I'm not looking that far ahead, and I'm not sue Jack is either. He grew up with The Royle Family and Cold Feet, because I was head of comedy at Granada for 10 years, so it's not surprising that he found comedy of interest. I watch a lot of comedy, and I took him to quite a few comedy gigs. I still do. He's a twin actually, an identical twin, and both kids like comedy a lot. But Jack's path into this has been entirely his own, which is very exciting. But I wouldn't necessarily encourage him to be an actor, no.
Did Jack's twin ever think that he wanted to be involved?
Actually, Finn is in one of the sketches, where we needed a set of identical twins. I think he quite enjoyed it. But the challenge of twins is that they're almost inseparable, but also need to find their ways forward and express their own individuality. Jack's found this on his own, and Finn makes a lot of videos and uploads a lot of stuff, so he's a bit more interested in being behind the lens.
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