Stephen Merchant has spoken out on how he hopes to be viewed as a "national treasure" ahead of the release of the second series of his Bristol-based show, The Outlaws.
The Westcountry star told the Mirror that despite his lengthy career in showbusiness, he feels as if he is a “Jack of all trades, master of none”. However, he says he is putting in the work to become more highly regarded in his industry.
“My dream is to become a national treasure because my big anxiety is that I don’t make it into the in memoriam film at the BAFTAs when I’m dead,” he said.
Read more: BBC The Outlaws: Stephen Merchant in talks about third series of Bristol show
“If I don’t make that, I’m just going to be absolutely gutted from beyond the grave. Everything I’m doing is to try and make sure I’m in people’s thoughts for that in memoriam section.”
Merchant has three BAFTAs, two Golden Globes and an Emmy, and has worked as a stand up comic, a writer and a director, as well as acting on stage, on television and in Hollywood. But he told the Mirror: “I feel like I’m Jack of all trades, master of none."
“I never picked a lane, so I’d like to direct a European art house film and win an Oscar, but also direct a Marvel movie and a thriller. I’d also like to do more standup so people are like, 'He is one of the greatest stand ups of all time.
"And then I just started dabbling in more serious acting. I did the play The Serial Killer and I’d like to do more dramatic acting so people are like, 'My God, we thought he was just a gangly comedian'.
"Oh my God, the depth of this. I want to do it all!”
Merchant's BBC series, The Outlaws, is due to return to our screens in June 2022. Set in Bristol, the show follows Greg Dillard, a lawyer who has to carry out community service after he is caught in a compromising position with a prostitute in a car park.
And Merchant has now shared the story of how he managed to get elusive artist Banksy to create a piece for the first series of the show - only for it to be destroyed. He managed to get word to Banksy that they’d love one of his designs to feature in the show, and he was overjoyed when they arrived on set one morning to discover the graffiti artist had hopped the fence during the night to paint a mural of Christopher Walken’s character Frank.
The art was then destroyed in the closing scenes, and Merchant said: “There was quite a lot of outrage. People then accused us like, “How have the BBC destroyed a Banksy?”
“But I have to try and impress on people that it did only exist in order to be destroyed. There was never a situation where I was going to chip it out of the wall and take it off to Sotheby’s. That was never an option!”
But the stunt did spark even more speculation, owing partly to Merchant's height. He added: “People were like, 'Is Stephen Banksy?'
“If you want to think I’m Banksy, I’ll leave that to your imaginations. Some of his art is on high walls.
"I’m tall. I could reach high places. That’s up to you to speculate!”
Merchant also says that after the first season of the show, he was surprised by the amount of people who told him they had done community service themselves.
“I did get a few messages from people saying, "I’ve done a bit of community service. It’s surprising how many people have actually done it.
"I was in a gym once and I was working out with a trainer and he said he’d done a bit of community service. I was suddenly a bit concerned.
“Immediately went to check my wallet, but more people than you think have done it, including celebrities, which is why we included a celebrity character.”
