“People were in tears on the set”: the emotional return of the oral sensation “Two Doors Down” | television

WWhen London taxi drivers started shouting at him – that’s when Jonathan Watson knew Two Doors Down, a BBC comedy set in a Glasgow suburb, had gone from slow burn to combustion.

The scream is appropriate in and of itself, given that Watson’s character, Colin, is a congenital non-candidate. Whether it’s telling his neighbors they don’t have to worry about a spate of burglaries because “no one’s going to target your house — they’ll want things they can actually sell,” or sharing the secrets of his success on Tinder: “Having a conversation: ‘How are you?’ “I’ve just done the laundry,” and the next thing is they’re in my bed, moreover with a towel down…”

Created by Gregor Sharp and the late Simon Carlyle, Two Doors Down moves between the living rooms of fictional Latimer Crescent, where a mismatched group of neighbors can’t seem to resist popping in on each other again and again. Now, the cast are back for a one-off Christmas special in which Beth and Eric cause panic when they put up their Christmas tree earlier than usual, leading to demands for bespoke mince pies and a heated debate over the Fairytale of New York theme song.

Having completed seven series, most recently for BBC One, this month’s Christmas special follows the announcement that the show will move to the stage next year, when it will run 10 performances at the 12,000-seat Glasgow Hydro theatre. It’s a testament to the show’s appeal that, at a glance, so little happens.

The moral center of the series — even if she doesn’t want to be — is Beth. Along with her husband Eric, their hospitality is regularly abused by neighbors such as Colin and Cathy – his fiercely competitive, booze-chasing wife (played by Don McEchan) who relegates the philistine to the rank of bourgeoisie. Or the hapless Christine, who stays out of her welcome while trading microaggressions bound on the couch.

Arabella Weir plays Beth, who can express anger, annoyance or despair through a raised eyebrow or twitching lip. “Simon and Gregor have done something very difficult, to write a realistic, relatable comedy. Writing ordinary people who don’t do strange things – it’s really hard to make that work,” she says.

Watson agrees: “The characters are so clearly defined that you could be anywhere in the UK and you could identify with them. Everyone knows Cathy, Christine and Colin. It all comes down to the writing.”

Although taxi drivers love shouting out the show’s juicy lines, they’re just one part of its appeal. With precise feedback and a finely tuned performance, it’s about as far from a booming delivery as one can get. A classic one-room comedy in the Royle family tradition, its stories are reassuringly mundane; The entire episode could be based on buying a very large box of cakes. But the drama is full of warmth and appreciation. Moments of tenderness sit next to obscene rudeness.

What is glaringly clear is that Two Doors Down is now comfortably ensconced in the hearts of the nation. But how did you get there?

“No one is more surprised than me,” says Alex Norton, who plays Eric. “It was supposed to be a one-off, but the script was new and unusual and seemed to be going well. The next thing was the phone call saying: ‘Are you interested in doing the series?’

The pilot was broadcast on Hogmanay in 2013 and commissioned, but the first series only began three years later, on BBC Two. “It started to grow and grow,” recalls Watson, as subsequent series rolled out.

“Then Covid hit, and suddenly young people were discovering it on iPlayer, so our audience really expanded,” he says.

The burgeoning fanbase has clearly been recognized by BBC bosses, and the show has moved to BBC One for its seventh series in 2023. (Let’s take a moment to appreciate how rare it is that the series has been rerun an additional six times.)

Sharpe explains that writing and filming the show is rooted in collaboration: “I’ve never felt an overnight success and the process of making the show has remained exactly the same.”

By sticking with many of the cast and crew from the early days, the team developed a shorthand for working together: “They understand what the world of the show is and what we’re looking to achieve.”

Speaking to cast members in Glasgow for the Christmas special, the sheer weight of the comedic – and dramatic – experience in the studio was clear. Cast biographies range from works by Bill Forsyth, Chris Morris, and Michael Winterbottom to notable shows including Naked Video, The Fast Show, Smack the Pony, Rab C Nesbitt, Still Game, and Prince Andrew: The Musical. But what’s also evident from the warm greetings and easy chat is how good the group is. Currently, they are all planning to appear on stage next September. And when Carlyle died in August 2023 at the age of 48, just weeks after filming on series seven had finished, it was a tragedy that is still deeply felt.

“When Simon died, the thought of going back to that set without him was terrible,” says Eileen C. Smith, who plays Christine, always ready with a dire warning or suspicious consumer advice (“You know who’s on paracetamol right? Morrisons.”).

“As Elaine said, we honor the memory,” Norton says. “I don’t believe in a lot of superstitious nonsense, but I feel it exists [on set]. “I think he will like it because the script is so good and it respects his legacy.”

“We all feel his absence,” says Sharpe, who had to develop an entirely new writing process for the series, having spent years sitting at the same laptop with his writing partner, sharing life stories and “feeling like pulling your brain from the inside out, trying to solve the mysteries of an episode.”

The challenge of writing alone, while grieving, must have been enormous. “Every idea and every line in the script I will be filtered through a sense of ‘Is this true to the show?’ And as long as you’re true to the show, you’re true to Simon.”

Two Doors Down isn’t based on an issue, nor does it exist in some sitcom limbo. Instead, he gently navigates the everyday politics of family, friendships, and generations with unassuming extremism.

Take the women for example – the sheer precision of Carlyle and Sharpe’s writing combined with the formidable talents of Lauer, MacEchan and Smith means that characters who might be monstrous in other hands are allowed a shadow side, whether it’s Cathy’s inability to have children or Christine’s loneliness.

“Here are three women over 50 who you can’t see on TV without being caricatured, and to play one of them is incredibly exhilarating and liberating,” says Ware.

“Women can easily be doormats, alcoholics,” says McEchan. “But the writing is great and we just have to constantly find ways to connect vulnerability and softness.”

She’s astounded by the number of people who claim to have Kathy in their own lives – and see beyond her awful behavior. “There was one episode at Christmas when I was drinking too much, and Beth finally brought it up, and then I got so upset. If she didn’t have that vulnerability, it wouldn’t be funny. That’s where the real humor is: when it’s dark but real.”

Smith recalls the “incredibly detailed notes” given by the cast during the early series, which stressed the importance of “not pushing”. She says Two Doors Down is not so much an action comedy as it is a reaction comedy.

“They have to be believable. Christine is a monster but she’s not a cartoon. There’s a vulnerability and a loneliness: she has no one and no life while she’s pretending to be.” Recall another festive incident, when Christine is left alone in a café contemplating the empty Christmas Day. “People were in tears on set.”

The show applies the same gentle curiosity to queer relationships. Eric and Beth’s son Ian, played by Jamie Quinn, is gay, and his long-time friend Gordon is played by Kieran Hodgson. “We don’t tend to have big breakthroughs on the show, but year after year, members of the street – who might not interact with queer culture that much – are given this little window through Ian and Gordon, and they slowly come to a very strong acceptance of everything,” says Hodgson.

While Gordon spends more time than he might like dodging Kathy’s lewd advances, his partnership with Ian is comfortably dull. “I really enjoy their lack of aspirational sex appeal,” Hodgson says. “A lot of times gay people are portrayed as being very dramatic, very dramatic in their lives. Ian and Gordon are just people on the road who have this romantic element to their lives, but beyond that they’re actually quite boring.” He radiates. “This is the ultimate edit.”

The Two Doors Down Christmas Special airs on BBC One on Christmas Eve at 10pm.