{"id":26149,"date":"2022-11-28T12:08:13","date_gmt":"2022-11-28T11:08:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1746296"},"modified":"2022-11-28T13:05:28","modified_gmt":"2022-11-28T12:05:28","slug":"ghosts-co-creators-on-their-dave-satirical-comedy-we-are-not-alone","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/ghosts-co-creators-on-their-dave-satirical-comedy-we-are-not-alone\/","title":{"rendered":"Ghosts co-creators on their Dave satirical comedy We Are Not Alone"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Published: Monday, 28 November 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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Ben Willbond and Laurence Rickard have enjoyed a mammoth hit with BBC One\u2019s Ghosts<\/a>, where they are co-creators and stars along with the rest of the Horrible Histories troupe, but they aren\u2019t resting on their laurels with their latest endeavour.<\/p>\n

Feature-length special We Are Not Alone is a very different beast, exploring what might happen if aliens successfully invaded Earth; essentially picking up from when the blockbuster finishes.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s how you get a cohort of hapless extraterrestrial overlords turning up in Clitheroe, Lancashire, looking to form a national government in the very centre of the UK\u2019s land mass \u2013 that\u2019s just common sense, right?<\/p>\n

These outsiders are the vehicle for some sharp satire on the absurdity of modern life, which occasionally veers into ruder material than typically seen on the family-friendly Ghosts.<\/p>

\u201cI think there\u2019s something about the gravity of what\u2019s happening for those characters,\u201d explained Rickard. \u201cIt\u2019s one of those shows where it felt like you\u2019d really have to cheat it to not have anyone at any point go, \u2018Oh, s**t!’\u201d<\/p>\n

He continued: \u201cIt\u2019s so big. And we didn\u2019t want to destroy the faux reality of it all. So, it naturally sat just post-watershed rather than just pre-.\u201d<\/p>\n

The show has a starry cast of comedy talent, including Joe Thomas (The Inbetweeners) as staggeringly dopey alien Greggs and Amanda Abbington (Sherlock) as exiled cabinet minister Caroline Grieves (no shortage of inspiration for that one).<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a lot of, \u2018God, wouldn\u2019t it be great if\u2026\u2019 times, and luckily, there were people who came back and went, \u2018Yeah, we\u2019d love to\u2019 \u2013 some of whom we were not expecting,\u201d recalled Rickard. \u201cSo we ended up above and beyond what we were hoping for.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Amanda Abbington stars in Dave\u2019s We Are Not Alone.<\/span><\/figcaption> UKTV<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

But Rickard says there\u2019s a \u201ctrade-off\u201d in the casting, with a conscious mix of established actors and lesser known rising talent, with Declan Baxter (a recent Ghosts guest star) in the lead role.<\/p>\n

He plays Stewart, a listless council administrator who inadvertently becomes human liaison to the Gu\u2019un invaders, a role that comes with lots of colourful paper (or as we call it, money), but also high risk of a grisly death.<\/p>\n

Among Baxter\u2019s many appealing qualities, he\u2019s \u201cgenuinely Northern\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t want Southern, well-known, well-placed actors in their early 30s, putting on a Northern accent and pretending they were 26,\u201d said Rickard.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt does happen,\u201d Willbond amusingly chimes in.<\/p>\n

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Joe Thomas and Declan Baxter star in We Are Not Alone.<\/span><\/figcaption> UKTV<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

Rickard and Willbond themselves make a brief appearance, although fans shouldn\u2019t expect their roles to be as prominent as those in Ghosts, where they play caveman Robin\/headless nobleman Sir Humphrey Bone and World War II veteran The Captain respectively.<\/p>\n

The duo never thought to give themselves leading roles in We Are Not Alone \u2013 \u201cI think the only thing we considered was not being in it at all,\u201d said Rickard \u2013 partly because of their substantial commitment to the residents of Button House.<\/p>\n

Juggling both shows was a challenge which really came down to the wire, with one week overlap between the end of shooting We Are Not Alone and the start of production on Ghosts season 4 (concluding soon with the upcoming Christmas special).<\/p>\n

Ultimately, they settled on \u201ca really nice little cameo\u201d that felt like a good fit and leaves potential for reappearances should We Are Not Alone get picked up for a full series by Dave.<\/p>\n

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Ben Willbond and Laurence Rickard star in We Are Not Alone.<\/span><\/figcaption> UKTV<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

If you\u2019ve seen any of the ads for We Are Not Alone lately, your attention has probably been drawn towards its striking Gu\u2019un characters, with their pale blue complexion and bulging foreheads; a design that looks ripped from classic Star Trek.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were really keen for it to be prosthetics because we knew that world and knew what you could and couldn\u2019t get away with,\u201d said Rickard, who dons a similarly elaborate get-up for his neanderthal character on Ghosts.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd also, because there\u2019s so much you can still see, you capture the performance, which is obviously so important in comedy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Willbond admits: \u201cIt actually was quite worrying [during filming], because you see the aliens and go, \u2018What are we doing?\u2019 They look so bizarre.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then as soon as we saw them on screen, it was like, \u2018Yeah, this is right, actually\u2019, because they have to be totally otherworldly [and] a little bit ridiculous; every time you see them, you have to stop and adjust.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Vicki Pepperdine stars in We Are Not Alone.<\/span><\/figcaption> UKTV<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

Though their appearance will raise questions, the answers are likely to be left to viewers\u2019 imaginations, as Willbond explains that the focus will remain squarely on Earth\u2019s native inhabitants.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a comedy about humanity and how stupid humans are and how baffling,\u201d he continued. \u201cSo, what we can do is \u2013 if we\u2019re lucky enough to make any more \u2013 we can sort of leave it at that.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet people guess what the Gu\u2019un planet was like and what their physiognomy is like; we can use those as gags rather than having to get ourselves tangled up in world creation.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, if We Are Not Alone goes down with audiences as well as the creators hope \u2013 and truly, it deserves to \u2013 what do they have in mind for their sci-fi satire?<\/p>\n