{"id":16443,"date":"2022-06-05T10:00:42","date_gmt":"2022-06-05T08:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1653996"},"modified":"2022-06-05T10:26:13","modified_gmt":"2022-06-05T08:26:13","slug":"stephen-merchant-on-the-outlaws-and-how-the-office-ran-out-of-steam","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/stephen-merchant-on-the-outlaws-and-how-the-office-ran-out-of-steam\/","title":{"rendered":"Stephen Merchant on The Outlaws and how The Office \u2018ran out of steam\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By David Craig\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Sunday, 05 June 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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Something malicious is spreading through our society and threatens to tear it apart. Unlike coronavirus, this contagion is nothing new, but the way it manifests itself is evolving and its intensity is reaching worrying levels. Stay alert: infection hotspots include the Commons Chamber, opinion pages in prominent newspapers and the Twitter comments under literally any news article. This nasty affliction is called rage. And we need to do something about it.<\/p>\n

Of course, since the dawn of humankind there have been differences of opinion. But these have become vitriolic since the recent declaration of culture war, with many of the loudest voices dropping all effort to meaningfully communicate. It\u2019s far easier \u2013 and in some cases, rather lucrative \u2013 to make a name out of spouting agitation that neither helps anyone nor furthers the debate. Listening is out of style; the new thing is digging your heels in and screaming blue murder all day long.<\/p>\n

But maybe it doesn\u2019t have to be. Stephen Merchant\u2019s comedy-drama The Outlaws<\/a> is aspirational viewing in how it imagines a group of people with vastly differing opinions on the world who find a way to work together. What a concept! Will it entice people back to the forgotten ways of cooperation and compromise? Perhaps not, but it\u2019s enough to give this cynic some hope that we aren\u2019t too far gone.<\/p>

That\u2019s quite deliberate, too. While the idea of a ragtag group doing community service originates from Merchant\u2019s youth, when his parents supervised such work, The Outlaws ultimately became a response to extreme polarisation.\u00a0When he started developing the show with Elgin James in 2016, the burning topics of the day were the Brexit referendum and Donald Trump taking office. The issues may have changed now, but the anger around them hasn\u2019t become any less severe.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt felt like people were being categorised, both in the media and online,\u201d said Merchant, in conversation with RadioTimes.com<\/a>. \u201cI thought, \u2018Well, just because you\u2019re anti-Brexit surely doesn\u2019t mean you must hate everyone who is pro-Brexit. That can\u2019t be right\u2019. My dad was pro-Brexit, but I like my dad. So where\u2019s the common ground? Everyone who\u2019s come to a particular social place or a political place has got there for a reason. They\u2019re not necessarily malevolent or stupid or whatever.\u201d<\/p>\n

From there came the idea to force together an eclectic mix of people who would never otherwise encounter each other and see if they can find some mutual understanding \u2013 or even friendship. Over time, the roster was decided: a promising student with a taste for shoplifting, a bouncer in over his head, an activist who always goes too far, a businessman stuck in the past, a negligent lawyer, a disgraced aristocrat and a suave career criminal.<\/p>\n

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