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Talking Shop: Chris Lilley
news.bbc.co.uk | August 1, 2008

Australian comedian Chris Lilley has won a cult following for his high-school comedy Summer Heights High.

The 33-year-old plays three characters in the mockumentary series - troubled Tongan student Jonah, attention-seeking drama teacher Mr G and privileged teenager Ja'mie King.

The show attracted controversy in Australia for its references to bullying and drug use, but went on to win a Logie - the Australian equivalent of a Bafta - for outstanding comedy programme.

As BBC Three shows prepares to repeat the first series this weekend, Lilley talks about the inspiration behind the show, comparisons to Ricky Gervais and pushing the boundaries of comedy.

Are you surprised at how successful the show has been?

Yes. I had to go through the whole thing in Australia - I didn't think it was going to be so big here as well. To have it go overseas is just really amazing. It was definitely made for this country and the BBC were keen on it, so I thought, 'we'll give it a go' - and it seems to have taken off. I have had lots of good feedback from people.

Summer Heights has been compared to The Office, has it been an influence behind the show?

I loved that show. I think that's pretty complimentary. I don't watch lots of comedy shows. I watch documentaries. I am not really influenced by anything in particular. I think, if anything, I would try to avoid being like something else.

Mr G I've done for a very long time - probably about ten years in stand-up comedy. And he was always in that kind of mockumentary form. He has been with me for a while, but this has been his biggest show.

What is the inspiration behind your characters?

I wanted to write a show about schools. I spent months and months researching, videoing kids in schools, interviewing teachers and observing things. So it was really that real-life stuff - I came across kids who were just like Jonah and Ja'mie, and teachers who were like Mr G. The show was a combination of all the different schools that I went to.

Who is your favourite character to play?

I really enjoyed Jonah because he was quite new and different to other characters I had played. When I first pitched that idea to everyone they were a bit sceptical because I am quite removed from a naughty 13-year-old boy. It was the challenge of bringing him to life.

I'm fond of them all, and Mr G particularly. There were some weird parallels with me and Mr G because the show itself is my creation and there are lots of battles to make sure I get my way. So there were some unusual parallels when Mr G was putting on his musical and I was finding Mr G saying things I would have said to the TV network! But I'm not as nasty as Mr G.

Some of the storylines are quite near the mark, do you ever worry that you have gone too far?

When I was making the show I really wanted to be surprising and push the boundaries a bit. I like comedy that is a bit shocking. At the time we were making the show it felt fine. Then when the press came out, they took everything quite seriously and there was a lot of debate. It was really easy to take things out of context. It took a while for people to get used to it. The media got over it pretty quickly here. There was a scary few weeks where I thought, 'maybe I have done the wrong thing', but I don't think so now.

You wrote a lot of the music in Summer Heights, do you have any musical projects in the pipeline?

Earlier this year I did a spin-off single for Mr G called Naughty Girl which was a hit in Australia, so that was really cool. When I was at university I was really keen on being a musician. I was writing music and performing, and I thought that was going to be my career. So to end up having a hit single, but dressed up as a gay man was a bizarre twist for me.

Will there be another Summer Heights High?

I really haven't decided what I'm going to do next. The show was so much bigger than I expected it to be. I'm a producer on the series, so I have a lot of extra work that I have to do in the aftermath of the series. I'm not close to being ready to do something else.

Also I take a long time to write stuff. I'm in the early stages of writing something - I don't know what - and it could easily turn out to be a second series of Summer Heights. It was always supposed to be a one-off thing, but it was so fun for me that it would be great to go back there again.

Do you have any future projects planned?

What I'm doing is a dream for me. I'm much more interested in having an idea and seeing it through, rather than jumping on board someone else's project. I really like music, so something to do with music might be fun. But I love inventing new characters, so I'm looking forward to bringing some new characters into something.

Chris Lilley was talking to BBC News Entertainment reporter Kirstie Andrews.

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