Patrick Brammall and Harriet Dyer are back with the hotly-anticipated second season of Australian romantic sitcom Colin From Accounts, which they co-write and star in as Gordon Crapp and Ashley Mulden, two strangers who are brought together after their awkward first encounter leads to Gordon accidentally hitting a stray dog with his car — and the two of them subsequently adopt the dog together, naming him Colin From Accounts.
Although Gordon and Ashley's relationship seemed like a perfect example of opposites attracting, the differences between them came to a head at Ashley's birthday party in the penultimate episode of the first season, and the couple broke up after a huge argument. Realising they needed to find a new home for Colin, they gave him away to a new family — but within moments of handing Colin over, they realised that both the breakup and the loss of their dog were huge mistakes.
We caught up with real-life married couple Patrick and Harriet to find out what to expect from Colin From Accounts season 2...
Patrick Brammall and Harriet Dyer interview for Colin From Accounts
How do we find Gordon and Ashley as season 2 begins?
Harriet: "It starts about two weeks after the end of season one, when they say, 'let's go and get our dog back — we are gonna make that little girl cry, though'. Then there's a two-week break."
Patrick: "There were actually about two years between seasons 1 and 2 — you can see that in the bags under my eyes! But we picked the story up two weeks later because we thought we needed to address that point: 'let's get our dog back'. We thought there was a bit of fun to be had there, and we're missing a trick if we just skip over that."
Harriet: "They're grappling, they're trying to get him back. We did have to walk a fine line; the audience just want Colin back with them, so that's satisfying — but what's also satisfying is watching them try and fail repeatedly. But, also, like — he's on the poster!"
Patrick: "He's in the title! It's in our contract, we cannot get rid of him. In the same way as when you're writing a romcom, you suspect that they're going to get together, but it's like, what are the obstacles in the way? I think season 2 is, as they go about trying to reclaim their dog, if they can't get Colin back, are they still good? Like, they've only just met."
Harriet: "Yeah, season one happens over about five weeks, so they haven't known each other a huge amount of time."
Patrick: "We had fun with that: the dust has settled, and they're sort of looking at each other, going..."
Harriet: "'Who are you?'"
Patrick: "If season 1 was 'will they, won't they?', season 2 is like, 'should they have?' That's the fun we unpack in season 2."
What's your take on that? Do you think they'd struggle if they couldn't get Colin back?
Harriet: "Personally, I think that they don't need Colin. I think their fear, or at least Ashley's fear, is that Colin is their glue, but in fact I think their bond is very, very strong. She's just scared — they're both scared of falling in love with each other."
Patrick: "I think so, and a big part of the show is about embracing the chaos of life, and that's what happens in the first moment of the first season. They are absolutely on the same frequency and they found each other. The fact is they do belong, I think they absolutely work without Colin. But again, he's in the title!"
Harriet: [laughing] "Yeah, we stitched ourselves there!"
The first season was a huge word-of-mouth hit in the UK — what was that reaction like for you?
Harriet: "I think there's been no reaction quite like the reaction in the UK, and I think that has a lot to do with its accessibility on BBC2 and iPlayer, because even back home, it's on [streaming service] Binge, which is a great platform, but not everybody has it. It's probably one of the more premium ones compared to a couple of the others, so that automatically restricts it."
Patrick: "It's done great for them, it's boosted their subs."
Harriet: "Yeah, lots of people have seen it, but there's something about the wildfire vibe that we got in the UK that I don't think we got anywhere else — and it's so cool to hear, because we don't live there so we don't know that! We just have such lovely comments on Instagram and things like that, so we know that people have enjoyed it, but in terms of the effect, we still can't grasp that. We hope that season 2 meets that watermark!"
Did you feel under pressure when you sat down to write the second season, knowing you had a hit on your hands?
Harriet: "I think before we started writing it, we felt the pressure. I was very nervous and procrastinating a lot, the room had to be just right, I was being a bit silly! Paddy had been keeping a note on his phone of all the ideas we hadn't put in, or things that got cut, so we had a lot of stuff ready to go. Plotting is the hardest bit of trying to make a satisfying season, but once we had that and we started writing, it's so fun. We just sit here giggling!"
Patrick: "Yeah, plotting is hard, but it's a good hard — it's like, 'where's the best spot for this, how can it be the best?' I think after season 1, we did go 'aw jeez, everyone is really enjoying this', but once we plugged back into the world of it, we were like, 'oh, we love this!'"
Harriet: "Actually the hardest part of making it was the edit, because when you're writing you've got the potential of the shoot, and when you're shooting you've got the potential of the edit, but then the edit is like, game over folks. What you submit is what people will see, and if it's not up to snuff... that's when we felt the most pressure."
The show is very sweet and charming, but it also has a snarky, sweary undertone to it. How important is it to strike that balance?
Patrick: "I think that's a really important part of it for us, and it obviously resonates with you lot. We never wanted to fall into being saccharine and sweet — you really have to earn those heartfelt moments. But, like life, we most enjoy writing the stuff where the dark, rude, silly stuff sits right up against them."
Harriet: "We can undercut it; it's nice if it works in tandem. But in terms of swearing, it was great to be able to make a show where people talk how they really speak. It feels genuine — especially certain characters that cannot stop swearing. My friend in Australia recently had to get a tow truck because her car had broken down, and the tow truck driver said that he was a massive fan of Colin From Accounts and he just loved the swearing, because he was like, 'that is Australian punctuation'! I loved hearing that feedback from a tow truck driver; I was like, 'good, we're hitting the demos!'"
Are there any characters you particularly enjoy writing for?
Harriet: "We love writing for each other, and also Lynelle and Lee [Ashley's mum and her partner] are a dream. I love writing Lynelle, I think she's so funny."
Patrick: "Lee and Lynelle are so fun because they're such impact players, they come in and just have banger after banger because that's the characters they are, and also the actors who play those roles, Helen [Thomson] and Darren [Gilshenan] are just geniuses."
Harriet: "There is a character in episode four, a corporate jerk called Jared, and I feel like he is my opus. He is such a turd, and I had so much fun getting inside his head. I don't know where this man lives inside me!"
Gordon and Ashley squabble quite a lot on the show — is that quite cathartic for the two of you if you've had a disagreement at home?
Harriet: "It's like going for a run, isn't it? It's a pressure-release valve."
Patrick: "Getting to script our own arguments is a joy! We love those."
Harriet: "There was that big barney in episode 7 of season 1 — that was good, just to have a good old yell on the street and have it not actually affect our relationship."
Patrick: "That's right: no one has to win, you can both present your point of view, and the audience can align with whoever they align with. It doesn't matter!"
How was it reuniting with Zak and Buster, the dogs who play Colin?
Harriet: "It was a lot more Zak this year, but we kept Buster because they shaved a part of Zak's back and then we needed him to look unshaved again, so they both had a double! Zak is just a legend — he's so chill, it was great to see him."
Patrick: "It was funny, when we saw Zak in season 2 it was like, [excitedly] 'Zak!' and he was like [calmly] 'hey', like he's so chill! I feel like if he was a human, he's the kind of guy where four years would go past and you'd go 'hey, man!' and he'd be like 'hey, what's up.' He's just a cool guy, he's unflappable."
Can we hope for a season 3 in the future?
Harriet: "I certainly hope so. We heard that it got 50% more viewers than season 1."
Patrick: "In Australia."
Harriet: "Which is massive for that platform, and I think we've been told to expect a call. The call hasn't come yet, but we are quietly confident. And season 2 ends in such a way that people will be cross!"
Patrick: "Yeah, we certainly leave it open for a third."
Harriet: "We've kind of forced their hand a little bit!"
- Colin From Accounts season 2 starts on Tuesday September 3 at 10pm on BBC2 and continues on Wednesday September 4 at 10pm. The full season will be available on BBC iPlayer from Tuesday September 3.
