The Road to Hebburn

Hebburn

Jason Cook’s had his fair share of sleepless nights thinking about BBC2 sitcom Hebburn. In the months before filming, he worked 14 hour days, seven days a week, for weeks on end, growing increasingly infatuated with how he would portray life for the Pearson family in one of the North East’s less inviting towns.

I spoke to Jason regularly during that time, mainly in the early hours of the morning, as his emotions flickered between the cocksure, laugh-a-minute stand-up you see working the club circuit and a man fraught with worry. “I was terrified,” he said. “I’ve written sketch shows and long story-based stand-up shows for years, but this was a whole different thing.

“Because Baby Cow and Channel X [who co-produce Hebburn] have a big thing about the writer having control, I was choosing the wallpaper, the ornaments in the house, everything. The amount of pressure on set is incredible, because if anyone has a question about anything in the script, all eyes are on you, no-one else.”

Filming for Hebburn began back in April, on location in the North East, before the cast – which includes Cook, Jim Moir and Chris Ramsey – transferred to the North West for four more weeks of filming in May.

In their Manchester studio, Cook would sit at the top of the stairs in the Pearson house, carefully analysing scenes and scribbling down new lines as they arrived in his head. “Jason was brilliant on set,” said director Chris Gernon (Gavin & Stacy, Granma’s House). “When one or two scenes were a bit light on laughs or not quite as good as we’d have liked I’d just look up the stairs and there he was, writing away for us.”

Kimberley Nixon, who plays female lead Sarah in the show, also credits Cook for drawing her to Hebburn. “I’d just finished doing Fresh Meat, so at the time I was casting for a lot of parts,” she said. “I just remember reading the script on the train to London and it blew me away. I loved it.”

There was certainly a lot of love at last night’s premiere at the Stockton Arts Centre, as we sat down to watch the first two episodes of the six-part series. Jason’s family and friends were in the audience – many of whom are immortalised in Hebburn – as well as local media, fans and comedy promoters who have helped him along the way.

But what of the show itself?

Jason’s always been good at writing about people in a life-affirming, victimless way. On stage, he tells stories about his dad, Tony, who died of cancer back in 2008. No matter how ordinary – or desperate – the situation is, he manages to make us care about people we never knew. And he makes it bloody funny too.

Hebburn is no different.

The tension created from newlyweds Jack (Chris Ramsey) and Sarah (Kimberley Nixon) moving back into the North East family home is more than enough to draw laughter into scenes. But what’s really special about the show is the characters.

Jim Moir and Gina McKee are the obvious stand-outs in the cast, and it’s easy to see why. I’ve always thought Moir – perhaps more famously known as Vic Reeves – would make a terrific actor. Not just in the comedy genre, but for more serious work too. And without giving anything away, there were glimpses in the opening episode that there’s real emotional depth to his performance as dad Joe.

The lovable Pat Dunn also shines as Jack’s eccentric grandma, Dot. As it stands, she’s probably my favourite character in Hebburn. Dunn delivers her lines with the care-free authority of the elderly, but also an amazing awareness of comic timing. The wonderful script helps her along the way, too, of course.

And if these first two episodes are anything to go on, Big Keith, played by comedian Steffen Peddie, has the potential to become a cult comedy hero. Watch out for him in the background, making scenes twice as funny as they should be.

One thing the show doesn’t do, though, is thumb its nose at the North East. “We really didn’t want to do that,” said Cook. “We didn’t want Hebburn to mock the town or anything like that. For me, it’s all about the characters in the show, and I just hope people enjoy it.”

With less than a week to go until the official debut on BBC2, the combination of excitement and crippling worry won’t leave Jason Cook’s body just yet. But now that Hebburn has received almost unanimous approval from Jason’s friends, family and the media, perhaps tonight he’ll be able to sleep a little easier.

Hebburn airs on Thursday 18th October at 10pm, with the dial set to BBC2.