With the boys returning from Casa Amor \u2013 a separate villa filled with brand new contestants which becomes the ultimate test for committed couples \u2013 viewers had been waiting all week to see who would choose to stay coupled up with their girl in the main villa, and who would bring someone new back with them. Of course, in classic Love Island fashion, the Thursday episode ended on a huge cliffhanger, forcing viewers to wait another 24 hours until they\u2019d learn whether Jake, Liam, Teddy and Tyler would stick with Liberty, Millie, Faye and Kaz respectively, or stray.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the Friday morning when I chat to Iain Stirling<\/a>, the dating show\u2019s long-time narrator, however he\u2019s yet to find out the outcome of the recoupling. \u201cObviously, Laura [Whitmore \u2013 his wife and host of Love Island] has been out there and I\u2019ve deliberately said to her, \u2018Do not tell me what happens,’\u201d he says in a toned-down version of the spiky Edinburgh accent we\u2019re used to hearing every night. \u201cWhen I go into work today, I\u2019ll be finding out for the first time what\u2019s actually gone down.\u201d<\/p>\n While we\u2019re due to chat at 11:15, a last-minute Love Island recording job delays him by half an hour and when he does call, it\u2019s from the back of a taxi on the way to an interview with BBC Radio 4. It\u2019s safe to say this summer is proving to be an incredibly busy one for the comedian and presenter \u2013 especially considering he\u2019s balancing his Love Island duties with the promotion of his upcoming ITV2 sitcom Buffering<\/a>.<\/p>\n The six-part series, created by Stirling alongside comedian Steve Bugeja, follows kids\u2019 TV presenter Iain (Stirling) in the aftermath of a break-up as he navigates millennial life alongside his four similarly hopeless housemates. Think Fresh Meat, but with characters in their late twenties and a puppet called Larry the Lizard (based on Stirling\u2019s former CBBC sidekick Hacker the Dog).<\/p>\n As you can tell, Stirling drew a lot on his own career and experiences when writing the sitcom, although it\u2019s not completely made up of his own anecdotes. \u201cI wrote it with my friend Steve so we\u2019re sort of 50-50 involved. It\u2019s like an amalgamation of his life and my life, and then we drew it all together. There\u2019s a bit of everyone in there and I actually quite like that I get to talk about my own life and it gets sort of muddied up in this fantasy world as well so it\u2019s hard for anyone to really identify which bits are me and which bits aren\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n That being said, the character Iain is, unsurprisingly, \u201cbased strongly\u201d on Stirling, while his nerdy, socially-awkward housemate Greg (played by Starstruck\u2019s Paul G Raymond) is \u201cbased strongly on Steve but not entirely\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThe other main characters are pretty fictional,\u201d he adds, referring to the ditsy artist Rosie (Harry Potter\u2019s Jessie Cave), cynical listicle writer Ashley (Inside No. 9\u2019s Rosa Robson) and charismatic American free-spirit Thalia (Patrick Melrose\u2019s Janine Herouni). \u201cThe original idea is that every one of the characters experience a flaw in the millennial generation so they\u2019re meant to be an embodiment of each one of those things.\u201d<\/p>\n When I ask Stirling whether he\u2019d always wanted to write a sitcom however, the answer is, well, not particularly. \u201cI sort of grew up on live telly and doing live stand-up so I\u2019ve always like the immediacy of live, and then I\u2019ve never done any sort of filming of this ilk, it just seemed quite laborious and long and takes ages to come out. But then I started working on this.\u201d<\/p>\n Stirling began developing his stand-up routines about his time on children\u2019s TV into a scripted comedy with the help of Bugeja, who \u201chas wanted to write a sitcom his whole life\u201d, with the process starting back in 2017. \u201cIt\u2019s sort of morphed into this mad passion project when at the start, I was a bit dubious of the whole thing really.\u201d<\/p>\n The series follows Iain as he attempts to move from hosting a children\u2019s TV show alongside the more popular puppet Larry the Lizard, to finding success on primetime TV \u2013 a storyline Stirling based on Stirling\u2019s early career as a CBBC presenter from 2009 until 2013.<\/p>\n \u201cFor me, it was always about getting from kids\u2019 TV back to doing stand-up for a living. My thing was I wanted to be a stand-up comedian, I wasn\u2019t too fussed about the telly element of things \u2013 and then when I first moved to London, I was like 21, and I thought I was the next Sarah Silverman or Bill Hicks but I ended up talking to a puppet dog dressed like Shakespeare\u2019s wife.<\/p>\n \u201cBut then actually it\u2019s one of those things after a couple of years doing kids\u2019 TV, especially the Iain and Hacker stuff, it was so much fun. I actually really enjoyed it by the end and was a bit sad to go really, but it just got to that stage where you\u2019re presenting like an 18-year-old and you\u2019re like, \u2018I probably need to move on now.’\u201d<\/p>\n While his character on Buffering can\u2019t stand his puppet co-star or the puppeteer controlling him, the situation couldn\u2019t be more different in real life. \u201cIn real life, me and Phil [Fletcher], who played Hacker the Dog and Larry the Lizard, we lived together for years when we moved to London. We lived together, worked together, would go to the BBC bar \u2013 the old one before it got all White City-ed \u2013 have a few drinks, have fun and then go home so the only time we weren\u2019t together is when we slept really.\u201d<\/p>\n Is the comedian moving from the recording booth and onto the small screen with the goal of showing his face a bit more? \u201cNo, I\u2019ve no interest in that at all really,\u201d he says. \u201cIf I could have done the sitcom without my face being in it, that would have been the ideal situation. I quite like being able to kick about town.\u201d<\/p>\n And with that, we move onto Love Island 2021, which has been a series unlike any other for Stirling for a number of reasons \u2013 mainly as he\u2019s unable to record his voiceovers in Majorca due to the coronavirus. \u201cMy evenings are slightly different and more domesticated, in my actual home which is lovely \u2013 but the actual process itself is very similar.<\/p>\n \u201c[In Majorca], although I\u2019m in a sunny place, I joke about it but I am just popped in a portacabin and this year, I\u2019m in a basement. Either way, I\u2019m in a small space for a lot of time. There\u2019s just not as much need for the air-con this time. It\u2019s just instead of going back to the hotel in the sun, which some days is brilliant and other days is obviously a bit lonely or whatever, this time I\u2019m just going back to my house.<\/p>\n A post shared by Iain Stirling (@iaindoesjokes)<\/a><\/p><\/div><\/blockquote> \u201cI\u2019ve never spent a full summer in London in my entire life,\u201d he says, after clarifying that last year\u2019s lockdown summer doesn\u2019t count. \u201cI\u2019ve been here for 15 years but I\u2019ll either go to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August or with Love Island I\u2019ll be away. [This year] I get to go home, if I\u2019m home early enough, make dinner, little glass of wine, watch a bit of Love Island. Perfect!\u201d<\/p>\n As for the actual series of Love Island, Stirling claims that it\u2019s been one of his favourite series ever. \u201cI just think the cast are brilliant. The first couple of weeks it\u2019s the same every single year. \u2018Ah they\u2019re boring, ah they\u2019re not as good as last year, ah the show is not what it used to be,\u2019 and then we get to this time and it\u2019s like, \u2018ah it\u2019s absolutely fantastic\u2019 and I\u2019m like, \u2018yep, it always does it, it\u2019s amazing.’\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI think there\u2019s a really interesting dynamic this year with all the girls sleeping outside and the boys sort of having this lads holiday mentality. I thought it was a really interesting dynamic that we\u2019ve not really had to the same extent before, it\u2019s just brilliant telly.\u201d<\/p>\n When it comes to predicting a winner, Stirling says it\u2019s too early to tell at the moment. \u201cIn the next week you see who the strong couples are coming out of Casa Amor<\/a>. This is the make or break moment.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the immediate short term, regardless of if they go in with or without girls, I think the boys will realise that they\u2019ve got great girls at home that care about them deeply and they\u2019ve had to learn that lesson by going to another villa and kissing a load of people. That will be an interesting dynamic to unbox.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that might be the narrative for a couple of days at least. The guys\u2019 whole lads holiday argument really falls by when you\u2019re saying it to someone you\u2019ve slept in a bed with for two and half weeks. So we\u2019ll see what happens. It will absolutely kick off.\u201d<\/p>\n Stirling began narrating the ITV2 reality show in 2015, alongside the late Caroline Flack, and never imagined it would become the phenomenon it is today. \u201cI think it was series two that it got popular but we sort of thought it was at the top end of a digital programme for popular. It was a success. But in series three, it was madness. I still remember being a guest on After Sun and I went to bed with 4,000 followers on Instagram \u2013 and back then I never even went on Instagram really, I\u2019d just posted on that because it was my fifth time on grown-up telly \u2013 and I just woke up the next day with 1,000,000 followers.<\/p>\n \u201cI just turned on my phone and was like, \u2018What? What is going on?\u2019 So yeah, it was sort of mad for everyone really.\u201d<\/p>\n As for whether Stirling would ever want to host the show alongside his wife Laura Whitmore<\/a>, who took over as the face of the show in 2020, it\u2019s a definite no. \u201cI think she\u2019s just brilliant at it and she looks brilliant and she just conducts herself so amazingly and has such experience of live TV and stuff. If you saw me walking in slow motion it would be disgusting.<\/p>\n \u201cIt would be sort of all flabby and off-putting and I\u2019d have sweat patches at the top of my stomach. It would be minging. The only reason it would be funny for me to do it is for the look on people\u2019s faces when this out of shape, 30-something dad just walks into the villa. They\u2019d be like, \u2018who the f**k is this guy?’\u201d<\/p>\n When I comment on how effortless Whitmore looks when she\u2019s walking in slow-mo, Stirling gushes: \u201cIt\u2019s so hard honestly! Obviously, I know Laura Whitmore quite well as you can imagine and even when I\u2019m watching it, it\u2019s like watching someone else. Who is this person? This goddess? It\u2019s so mad.\u201d<\/p>\n Stirling plans on bringing Buffering back for a second series and hopes to dive deeper into the world of TV. \u201cI definitely found it\u2019s mad how many people are nostalgic for Iain and Hacker. I wouldn\u2019t mind exploring deeper into the inner workings of kids\u2019 TV \u2013 I think it\u2019s just innately funny.\u201d<\/p>\n When I ask whether the fictional Iain will go on to narrate a reality dating show in series two, Stirling replies: \u201cA sort of Flirty City or something like that? You never know. Obviously, it seems like a logical step.<\/p>\n \u201cThe funny thing about it is Love Island is such an interesting journey in of itself. It was a dating show on a digital television channel, it was never meant to be the sort of cultural cornerstone. How did that happen?\u201d<\/p>\n Buffering premieres with a double episode on ITV2 at 10pm on Thursday 5th August, with the entire boxset landing on ITV Hub immediately after.\u00a0While you\u2019re waiting, check out more of our\u00a0Entertainment<\/a>\u00a0coverage or visit our\u00a0TV Guide<\/a>\u00a0to see what\u2019s on tonight.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n![\""Buffering"\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2021\/08\/buffering_ep1_02-9d5ce9c.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413"\" "\\"\"iain-stirling-big-rt-interview-exclusive\"\\"")
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