Interview with Olisa Odele (Yemi)

How are you feeling about the third and final series of Big Boys. Exciting but also sad times…

I went through both emotions whilst doing it. We’d finished filming and done emotional scenes and I was completely fine. Then we came in for our photo shoots on the last day, and they’d kept the blue shed set for pictures. I stood there by myself, and it finally hit me, I started bawling, crying. They’d done my makeup, and I had to leave and run to my trailer. Jack came in to speak to me, ‘Are you ok?’  They had to redo my makeup!

I saw the unedited pictures the other day. I’m looking in my eyes and I’m like, ‘The eyes are blowing up’ [laughs]. It’s sad but exciting because it’s been such a part of our lives for so long. Just knowing that we’d spend that summer together every time. This series I was doing a play [The Hot Wing King] at the same time.

How did you find juggling the two?

It was hard. But obviously, they were proud of me and supportive. They all came to watch the show. It kind of mirrored what my character [Yemi] is going through… all the feelings Yemi was feeling, should I stay, should I go, was exactly how I felt coming up to filming. You want to be able to give the show your full attention. That was a difficult decision and was an intense time. So yeah, I do resonate with Yemi because that’s literally how I felt.

How difficult is it going to be leaving Yemi behind? Have you learnt anything from playing him?

Yemi’s like an alternate universe version of me during my university years. I filmed Chewing Gum whilst at Uni, so my London life was lit but there were many times I wanted to drop out of my course and go home. Like Yemi, it was the friendships I'd made and the fear of my father’s wrath that kept me there till the end. But as for my experience – sexually, romantically – that was nothing like Yemi’s. The confidence Yemi has to approach boys in the student union bar, to charge money for sexy webcam cabaret and reject beautiful men like Oscar to their faces… University Olisa could not relate. I would do cabaret performances for free in my uni halls kitchen at two in the morning and students would hurl rocks at my window begging me to stop. I remember before series one being like, ‘I need to go to the gym,’ and Jack said, ‘You are fine as you are, you do not need to do anything.’ He was right but I said, ‘Absolutely not, I need to do it for myself.’ There is a confidence in Yemi that I, maybe, got to practice in character, and I’m walking with a bit more of it now, ‘Yeah, I am that bitch!’ 

Even in terms of style and expression I’ve learnt so much. My fittings with our costume designer Rachael Clarke (series two and three) are a riot. They take so long because I would indulge in my model fantasies and dance around the trailer every time, I fell in love with an outfit she’d put together. 

Did you get to keep many of Yemi’s outfits?

My wardrobe is full of them. You’ll see me in Yemi’s clothes in the club! After series one my friend said to me, ‘Listen, why don’t you dress like this normally, you look so much better.’ I went on some dates after series one, and people were very disappointed when they met me in real life. Someone was like, ‘I just thought you’d care more about fashion,’ and I was like, ‘I’m so sorry to disappoint!’

What is in store for Yemi this series?

Jack’s always given me space to put my thoughts into the character. From series one we’ve had a lot of dialogue about the character and story. I’ve always trusted him to do the thing, but he’s always asked me what I think. We talked about the journey, and what it should be and shouldn’t be, and what makes sense, putting our personal experiences in there.

What was one of the thoughts you shared with Jack? Is there something you really wanted to get across?

Yemi is someone who came to university being like, ‘I know my life outside of here, I know what I came here for and I’m not here to be that close with anybody,’ and then he fell in love with these people. He put his aspirations of being a successful fashion drop out on pause. He wanted to leave in series one.

That’s a discussion Jack and I had, about the level of ambition and tenacity required of Yemi to achieve what he wants to achieve in his career. That can feel at odds with some of the friendships he’s made and the new environment that has grown accustomed to. He didn't come to Brent University to chill and get comfortable. There’s an authenticity in Yemi’s cultural identity that we’ve always tried to keep by allowing some of the Nigeria-isms and London-isms that naturally come out of me, as Olisa, into Yemi’s dialogue. Yemi freely flips between loads of different voices. Jack and Jim have always encouraged adlibs and rephrasing where it feels right. 

This series there is an increased focus on the friendship between Yemi and Jack.

Yemi shook off that specific mentor role indirectly in series two and invested in other friendships.  That was a discussion we had in the beginning, ‘We’re not creating a black queer character whose sole function in the show is coaching a Caucasian man’s queer journey,’ and Jack was like, ‘I don’t want you to do that. We often likened Yemi to Cheryl [Cole] on the X Factor mentoring the contestants whilst being an artist in her own right and sitting on back-to-back bangers she would soon deliver. She always had her own stuff going on. 

It’s like a relationship of equals now, with Yemi turning to Jack to help him decide whether or not to leave university.

Absolutely. Series one and two, it was Yemi giving a lot of knowledge to people around him, and it was time naturally for that to evolve, and for Yemi to let other people in. He’s not so front footed in the way he normally is. He is letting these people in to impart something to him.

Yemi is a huge fan favourite. Have you had a stand-out encounter with someone who watches the show?

I’ve had so many gorgeous encounters with fans of Big Boys. Whether that's at Mighty Hoopla, UK Black Pride, on the late-night Thameslink service, or as I'm in triage awaiting a laryngoscopy.  I’m so excited it’s gone to the US now. It will be that slow burner that people discover and obsess over.