‘Danny Dyer running around naked doesn’t even touch the chaos of Mr Bigstuff season 2’

Sofas engulfed in flames, a budding dominatrix and a naked cul-de-sac chase-down, and that’s just the first episode of Mr Bigstuff season two.

The offbeat comedy about two chalk and cheese brothers – the trauma-ridden lad Lee (Danny Dyer) and the by-the-book Glenn – is back after an astounding first run.

The storied layers of how this comedy-drama came to be seems almost prophetic – Ryan Sampson moulding a character in the vision of Danny, Danny’s tenure on EastEnders coming to an end, the stars aligning.

Add Big Boys star Harriet Webb, as the ambitious (if not downtrodden) Kristy, to the mix, and you are onto a surefire winner. 

So, when the Rivals star scooped up the Bafta for best actor in a comedy, it was a victory in more ways than one – proof of Danny’s star quality post-soap opera and a testament that Ryan had created a show that could capture both a devoted fan base and critical acclaim.

Not that he had any doubt after seeing the magic Harriet and Danny concocted in the flesh, as he told Metro ahead of Mr Bigstuff season two.

‘It’s absolutely mad, honestly, and I was sat there at the Baftas and Danny did this lovely shout out, and I was like, “What is this?”

‘The first read through. You hear these two [Danny and Harriet] doing it and putting their own spin on it. And I was like, “oh, that’s quite good. That’s quite sexy.” And then you see bits of it as we’re shooting it, you’re like, “oh, it really does work”. I’m just so chuffed. I’m really glad,’ Ryan said about the Bafta win.

Season one of Mr Bigstuff introduced the gruff, drug-fuelled Lee, on the run from a dangerous path and forever living in his dead father’s shadow.

When he is unexpectedly reunited with the endearingly dweebie Glenn, his brother, their lives are turned upside down, ending in an epic season one cliffhanger – the dad is, in fact, very much not dead.

The bar has been set high, with the grimy humour and outrageous scenes in season one and yet season two easily surpasses it with even more mental moments.

In the first episode, as seen in the trailer, Lee ends up disrobing and chasing some hooligans down the street – a scene that somehow has a more chaotic story behind-the-camera.

‘Chaos was when we did the naked chase bit. We had to do it in real life. Danny has to run down this actual suburban street with real people in it, and he’s almost completely naked, and it was on Halloween,’ Ryan recalled.

‘So as he was running down the street, there were little kids literally around the corner. And the producer was like “you need to go now. You need to do it now. There are small children dressed as Tinkerbell”.’

And yet, this only scrapes the surface of the absurdity to come.

For Danny, his most chaotic moment on set was the day a bunch of retired stuntmen shot a scene set in a working man’s club that soon descends into violence.

‘We only had one day to get that. We called on all of the old retired stuntmen that were still alive, and they were so happy to be doing [it].

‘You know the old stuntmen that haven’t got all their fingers because they’ve been around since the 60s and there was no health and safety and stuff. They made me look good. 

In fact, as Ryan revealed, one of them was Roger Moore’s James Bond stuntman.

‘Yeah he was like 80 and getting thrown around, bowling over tables and you go “wow this is an art”,’ Danny added.

Meanwhile, the storylines lean right into the bonkers tone of the show, not least Kristy’s journey to dominatrix in a bid to spice up her sex life with Glenn.

Harriet shared: ‘I was really excited about some of the more playful dominatrix [scenes]. I was very excited for Kirsty, weirdly, to explore that and to have those more outrageous scenes.

‘Also some of the more emotional stuff, delving into her relationship with her mum, and that really coming to a head throughout season two, was a really cool thing as an actor to be able to do.’

To whet the appetite, Ryan teased an ‘impressive’ moment from episode five that Harriet executes that is ‘amazing to watch’.

Meanwhile, Glenn and Lee are thrust into a paternal wild goose chase that takes them to some ‘really weird places’.

Danny added: ‘Obviously, Lee’s not dealing with it very well with the trauma of his dad. Lee loves his dad and looks up to him, and it was Glenn who wasn’t as fussed.

‘The idea of [his dad] lying, Lee [has taken] it badly, so he needs to get his mojo back and then go on a crusade to go and find him that takes some nutty little twists.’

Unlike their dad, the vibrant world Ryan has created, revolving around these two brothers who form the most unlikely bond, is showing no signs of disappearing.

In fact, Ryan has already teased the multi-season vision he has for the show, provided the audience stays.

‘I know sort of where we’re going so we’ve got a few series to get to the actual peak. I want to do a slightly weird thing, which is that I want it to be a comedy which ends up with [more] drama than is normal [in a show like this].

‘We have really good actors so long as it feels real and we go really slowly, I think we can [do it].’

Although in an industry increasingly defined by audience numbers, Danny provides some sage advice for Mr Bigstuff fans if they want to see this larger-than-life plot come to fruition.

‘Watch it, download it, gorge on it. The whole series in less than Lord of the Rings so get amongst it and you can get another series out of it,’ he declared.

Mr Bigstuff season two airs on Thursday, July 24, with all episodes available to watch on Now.

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