Carr explained that the show’s “home” is in the 1980s.

By James Hibbs

Published: Sunday, 14 July 2024 at 06:00 AM


Alan Carr’s ITV comedy Changing Ends, which charts his life growing up in the 1980s as the son of a football manager, has returned for its second season, and now Carr has weighed in on the show’s future.

Speaking exclusively with RadioTimes.com at ITV’s comedy season launch, Carr explained that while he hopes for more seasons, he doesn’t see the show running indefinitely.

He said: “I think I would like to do some more, but I feel its home is in the ’80s. So maybe, I don’t know, ’89 or something. And then, when I finally got to the stage where I went, ‘Oh, do you know what? I am gay, I’m different, I don’t care what people think’ – that’s when the spell was broken.”

So, I think I love this innocence. I love the ‘what’s going on?!’. I love all that, but there’s going to come a time… I think as soon as I understand and acknowledge what I am, then I think the spell is broken and that’s when it should end.”

Charlie Jobe as Banjo, Jack Shep as Richard Hill, Dotty Davies as Kay, Shaun Dooley as Graham, Oliver Savell as Young Alan, Joshai Eloi as Arthur, Taylor Fay as Gary and Gabby Best as Angela in Changing Ends
Baby Cow Productions/ITV

Meanwhile, Nancy Sullivan, who plays Alan’s mum Christine, added: “It’s very interesting because Graham [Alan’s dad] loses his job in real life – this would be the next series – so you would see the fall of the Carrs just after they got to the top.

“So that might mean Christine getting a job, which would be great, and having other stuff going on. And also, where Alan would be at that point and seeing them as a family at that stage, when the kids are a bit older and things aren’t going great. It would be very interesting.”

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Carr also spoke about how his on-screen journey to discovering he is gay differs from some other screen depictions of LGBTQIA+ stories told in the modern era, saying: “Now with LGBTQIA+, there’s this thing with labels and everything. And in the ’80s, you didn’t… you sort of had to feel your way around. It wasn’t there.

“And so, there’s an innocence there, I think, and there’s watching someone trying to find their identity. You know, I didn’t really know what was going on. I knew I just didn’t fancy the people that everyone else was fancying. And I was like, ‘What?!’

“But then, it’s a more interesting story than going, ‘I’m this, I’m that.’”

Changing Ends will air on ITV1 at 9pm on Saturday 13th July. It will also be available to stream on ITVX on the same day.

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