Fans of Noughties nostalgia rejoice: beloved Channel 4 dramedy Big Boys is gearing up for a second season of Alison Hammond, ice bucket challenges and patchy 3G mobile signal (those were the days).
Written by Jack Rooke, it tells the story of the newly-out Jack, who starts Brent University and quickly becomes friends with fellow student Danny. Now, the gang are back for another year on campus, with more shenanigans inevitably on the horizon – but who plays who? We break it down.
Jack, played by Dylan Llewellyn
Jack is one of the show’s main characters. A gay man who has just come out, he spent most of season one grieving his father’s death and attempting to adjust to busy university life after years spent living cooped up with his mother. But this year, he’s attempting to strike out on the dating scene.
Dylan Llewellyn was born in 1992 in Surrey. Severely dyslexic, he attended a specialist school before going onto study at RADA. From there, he played bit-part roles before landing the role of the “wee English fella” James in the beloved Channel 4 sitcom Derry Girls.
“I knew it was good because the writing genuinely made me laugh,” he said of the show. “Normally, I might titter at scripts but this was laugh-out-loud funny. What I couldn’t predict was the way it struck such a chord.”
Danny, played by Jon Pointing
The ever-cheerful Danny is Jack’s best friend. An older university student (he’s 25), he’s keen on nights out and giving Jack advice on how to chat up potential love interests; however, he also has mental health issues of his own, for which he takes antidepressants.
Born in South London, Pointing was first inspired by comedians like Suzy Izzard, even going so far as to compere a fashion show in primary school. “In the 90s, a camp nine-year-old was peak comedy,” he told the i. “That was my experience of having loads of people laughing at me and I loved it.”
Following that, he spent ten years doing odd-jobs while trying to break into acting, before ending up in shows including Plebs, Pls Like and the 2023 Agatha Christie drama Murder Is Easy.
Peggy, played by Camille Coduri
Peggy is Jack’s loving mum, who struggles to cope now that he’s fled the coop. Jack hid his sexuality from her for much of season one, fearing her reaction, but finally came out to her at the end of the series.
Coduri herself has been a mainstay on British TV for years. Born in Wandsworth in 1965, she’s appeared in everything from A Bit of Fry and Laurie to Ashes to Ashes, but she’s best known for playing Jackie Tyler, mother of Rose (Billie Piper) in Doctor Who between 2008 and 2010.
Corinne, played by Izuka Hoyle
A serious student (she was rejected from Oxbridge, in fact), Corinne serves as the ultra-nerdy foil to Jack and Danny. “This season you get to see more of her personal side,” actor Izuka Hoyle says. “I think she relaxes a bit more and we start to venture more into her intimate life.”
Izuka Hoyle herself is a Scottish actress who hails from Edinburgh. Born in 1996, she trained at ArtsEd in London, and made her debut playing Catherine Parr in the musical Six. From there, she’s gone onto appear in BBC drama Clique, Prime Video series The Wheel of Time and BAFTA-winning film Boiling Point, reprising her role for the 2023 TV series.
Yemi, played by Olisa Odele
The flamboyant Yemi is a fashion student who is part of Jack and Danny’s friendship group. Having helped Jack come out, he’s now sharing his own experiences as a gay man, encouraging him to explore his sexuality, and acting as a mother hen to the rest of the group. “He’s always doing his hustle while socially and emotionally investing in new people, I think each episode he invests a little bit more,” says Odele.
Odele went to the BRIT School for Performing Arts and Technology, and appeared in 2021’s It’s A Sin as Cassius. He also played Ola in Michaela Coel’s Chewing Gum.
Shannon, played by Harriet Webb
The ever-cheerful Shannon is Jack’s cousin, who has a job running children’s parties, though doesn’t find it as fulfilling as she would like. Webb herself has a long-running career as a theatre and TV actor: she played Theodora in the BAFTA-winning show I May Destroy You, and has also appeared in Sandylands, Scarborough and White Gold.
Jules, played by Katy Wix
Where do people go after they leave Brent Uni? If they’re Jules, they become the student union officer – albeit one with an overenthusiastic approach to integrating new students.
Wix is a Welsh actor, who was born in Pontypridd in 1980 and started her career as a comedian, in a double act with Anna Crilly. In 2007, she joined the cast of Lee Mack’s Not Going Out as Daisy, and made guest appearances on Horrible Histories; she is also a series regular on the hit BBC series Ghosts, which was created by and starred many of her colleagues from the Horrible Histories team.
Nanny Bingo, played by Annette Badland
Nanny Bingo is Jack’s grandmother, and Annette Badland, who plays her, has been on screens for years. Born in 1950, she originally joined the industry by becoming a “rep”, before joining Ian McKellen’s Actors’ Company at the Cambridge Arts Theatre; though she initially made her name on stage, she’s appeared on TV too, in everything from Doctor Who to BBC crime series Bergerac.
