{"id":91255,"date":"2016-09-21T09:30:23","date_gmt":"2016-09-21T08:30:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/?p=91255"},"modified":"2016-09-21T09:30:23","modified_gmt":"2016-09-21T08:30:23","slug":"zapped-james-buckley-on-daves-new-fantasy-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/news\/zapped-james-buckley-on-daves-new-fantasy-series\/","title":{"rendered":"Zapped! James Buckley on Dave’s new fantasy series"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dave\u2019s new sitcom, Zapped!<\/strong><\/em>, is hoping to be the new Red Dwarf<\/strong><\/em>. It\u2019s launching off the back of it, and, like Red Dwarf<\/em><\/strong>, is a comedy set outside of the real world \u2013 although Zapped!<\/em><\/strong> is playing with the fantasy genre rather than the sci-fi one.<\/p>\n

James Buckley (The Inbetweeners<\/strong><\/em>) plays Brian, a regular guy who finds himself accidentally transported to a fantasy world. \u201cAnd then he meets all these strange and weird people and he spends his time mostly trying to come up with ways to get back home.\u201d<\/p>\n

But it wasn\u2019t the fantasy elements that attracted Buckley to Zapped!<\/strong><\/em> \u2013 it was the traditional sitcom elements, and the presence of producer Steve Coogan (he describes Coogan\u2019s cameo in the show as \u201ca masterclass in how you should be funny\u201d). \u201c[I]t felt like a really good opportunity for me to do something a little bit different to what people know me for,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n

His co-star Paul Kaye, however, is back in outlandish wizard robes again for his role as Howell. He, like most of the cast when we met them on set, tells us that he was drawn in by the unique feel of the writing. \u201c[W]e\u2019re talking about these wildly fantastical things, but it\u2019s all kind of routine and what we\u2019re used to. So it\u2019s a really lovely mix of weird and stupid with the everyday problems that they face, you know? When I read it I\u2019d never read anything quite like it.\u201d<\/p>\n

My Mad Fat Diary<\/strong><\/em> star Sharon Rooney was also drawn in by the script. \u201cI laughed out loud when I read it, and I\u2019m not a laugher… I think it\u2019s something you can put on and have fun, and watch with the family.\u201d It\u2019s a pre-watershed show, and Kaye is proud of the fact that there\u2019s \u201cnot an arse-fucking gag in sight\u201d. \u201cThat\u2019s the great thing about pre-watershed stuff, he says, \u201cit\u2019s far more imaginative and fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

Buckley is under no illusions about how well he\u2019d cope in Brian\u2019s situation (\u201cI\u2019d probably curl up into a ball and just sit there and wait for sweet death\u201d), but he\u2019s keen to see how Brian\u2019s situation turns out. \u201c[W]hat\u2019s great about this world is that it feels like it\u2019s something that isn\u2019t finite,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are so many different things that you want to explore and so many characters that can come up, different situations that Brian can find himself in. Because there\u2019s a thing with Brian where he\u2019s actually a loser back home. He doesn\u2019t like to think he is, but I assume, hopefully, there\u2019ll be a time where he realises he has more in common with these people who he considers weird, because he\u2019s probably considered weird back home.\u201d<\/p>\n

With Zapped!<\/strong><\/em> being a three-episode pilot, Brian\u2019s fate very much depends on how the viewers respond to the show. But with fantasy comedies being pretty rare beasts, it\u2019s certainly worth a watch.<\/p>\n

Zapped!<\/em> will air on Dave in October. For all the latest TV news, pick up the latest issue of SciFiNow.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We spoke to the Inbetweeners star about new comedy drama Zapped!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":91256,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"MSN_Categories":"Uncategorized","MSN_Publish_Option":false,"MSN_Is_Local_News":false,"MSN_Is_AIAC_Included":"Empty","MSN_Location":"[]","MSN_Add_Feature_Img_On_Top_Of_Post":false,"MSN_Has_Custom_Author":false,"MSN_Custom_Author":"","MSN_Has_Custom_Canonical_Url":false,"MSN_Custom_Canonical_Url":""},"categories":[1718,7,3,207],"tags":[5397],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/zapped.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91255"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/37"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91255"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91255\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/91256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}