On a grey, non-descript estate in Watford, Jack Rooke tells me the room he has just emerged from is “full of double-ended dildos”. It could be a joke but, given that the comedian and TV writer once turned a sex scene into a fantasy about a Tesco meal deal, and wrote another about someone pooing their bed, a prop room awash with sex toys sounds about right.
He’s here filming the second season of his coming-of-age autobiographical comedy, Big Boys, which follows gay student Jack (Dylan Llewellyn) and his straight best friend Danny (Jon Pointing). The blue shed that Jack and Danny live in is literally a big blue shed in real life, based on the guardianship buildings Rooke lived in after university. “It’s really nice because my mum lives around the corner,” says Rooke, who is proud to put his home town on the map. “Sitcoms thrive outside cities – look at The Office.”
