HNTLYL - THE SHOW
Season One:
Don is a 29 year-old, single man. Confident in social situations but completely lacking self awareness. Some might call him a lovable bastard. Other's would just say bastard. Which he is. Literally. His parents both died tragically during child birth, and Don was brought up by his aggressive grandmother. Although he was by no means a perfectly behaved child, he didn't deserve the verbal abuse his nanna gave him.
At the age of 16 Don left school to pursue a life of fast living and good times. He never really had a dream as a child to be anything, and so skipped University to embark on a life of incredibly short lived romances - AKA one night stands - and short lived jobs. After a decade of meandering, all Don has to show for his life is a bedsit and memory full of hangovers. Which brings us up to now.
We first meet Don as his life begins to change. He is fired from his office job, and inherits a brand new house. The house in question was his grandmother's. She very recently passed away and has left him the property in her will. Only it comes with baggage. She was seriously behind on mortgage repayments and it's going to cost him a lot to keep it. He would try selling it, but his nan stipulates in the will that he mustn't.
When moving in, Don is met by a strange man. The man is Eddie Singh, who used to be Don's nan's carer. Eddie is a very positive, caring and upbeat person, who loves nothing more than helping people. He can see that Don is not a very together person and feels sorry for his recent loss, so decides to continue coming round to help, even though he's not actually invited.
With no job, and huge back payments, Don needs to find some extra cash. So he decides to rent a room out. It's during Don's search for a flat-mate that we meet Abby Jones. Abby was at school with Don back in the day. Abby's a primary school teacher now, and is an incredibly sweet natured woman, who never sees the bad in anyone. Don had a huge crush on her when they were teenagers and he's often wondered how she might be doing these days. So when she agrees to move in he thinks he's in for some good luck. This being Don's life, it wasn't good luck, as he soon discovers she has a boyfriend. Meet Karl, a wealthy property developer who's smug and condescending. Don and Karl do not hit it off, to say the least.
Through-out season one, we witness Don's attempts to win Abby's affections, whilst also trying to navigate his way through everyday life. He fails at both, partly because of his poor instincts and partly because of his terrible luck.
Season Two:
Series 2 starts with the news that Abby and Karl have left the house. Don is heartbroken and alone. He explains that Abby broke up with Karl and, shortly after, decided to get away and spend time on her own. She's gone traveling across Australia and New Zealand.
Although Don feels desperately lonely he will never be truly 'alone'. Not with Eddie around. And now that Eddie is also looking after grumpy old neighbour, Mrs Treacher, Don will always have company. Just the wrong age, wrong temperament and absolute remote possibility of sexual attraction.
After some time moping about the house Don has an epiphany. He realises that all might not be lost. When Abby returns in six months she'll, hopefully, still be single. And if she is, then he might have a chance of winning her affections. Which means this might be his last chance to play the field. There's no point in wasting his bachelor lifestyle. So with this in mind Don starts looking for a new lodger. Which leads us to Samantha, the new woman in Don's life.
Samantha is a mature student, although only in her mid twenties, who was once a model with modest success. As a teenager, her mother encouraged her to take up modeling, earning her easy money. But now well into her twenties; tired of that profession and with no real qualifications, Sam has decided to go back into education.
To say Don and Sam don't hit it off immediately would be an understatement. And although they initially dislike each other and strike up an unhealthily competitive relationship, it soon becomes clear that they have more in common than they'd care to admit. For a start they both have a habit of going on seriously bad dates with other people and seem to be equally bad at practicing what they preach.
HNTLYL - A HISTORY
by Dan Clark
In 2006 I made a series of short films for the Paramount Comedy Channel (now called Comedy Central). It was called Dan Clark's Guide To Dating and consisted of 10 episodes, each one a minute long. The format was basically fast cut lists, like the ones in HNTLYL. Things like 'Things You Shouldn't Say On A Date' or 'Things You Shouldn't Wear on a Date' etc. They were broadcast in the summer of that year and soon after posted onto the Internet where they received hundred-of-thousands of hits. The Paramount Channel asked us for more. So in January 2007 we made Dan Clark's Guide To Working. A guide to things you shouldn't do at work; in the office; at a job interview and so. Not sure how I ended up writing a comedy about working in an office considering I've never worked in one. Ever.
Shortly after Guide To Working was broadcast, the BBC approached us asked if there was a way to make an half-hour version? The short answer was "no". I was pretty sure that 30 minutes of "Guide To''s.." would become very tedious. But I came up with the idea of putting those list moments into a narrative. I mentioned this to Gary Reich, the co-creator of the "Guide To.." shorts and he loved the idea. We put together a format, which the BBC loved and at the end of May 2007 we shot a pilot on almost no money. It was a lot of fun. The BBC were very pleased with the pilot. But it took them 8 months to commission a full series.
I spent the entire winter of 2007/2008 writing the first series. I've written lots of scripts before but never anything on my own. So it was quite daunting. I'm very lucky to have the incredibly talented Drew Pearce as my script editor. In fact, I'd never be able to write without him and Gary, my producer, on board. Their notes, suggestions and advice are brilliant.
There were some big changes to make to the scripts since the pilot. Mainly the inclusion of the character Eddie. There was no Eddie in the pilot. I always wanted Don to be a bit of a loner. But he needed someone he could confide in. Some to just chat to so that the viewer knew what was going on in his mind. So along came an uninvited friend, in the form of Don's nan's carer. We also changed Karl's character. Turning him from the nice but dim character in the pilot, to the slimy and condescending monster that he was in series one.
After a lengthy casting process, we shot series one in April, May and June of 2008 - in Glasgow. It was glorious weather. For Scotland. And a lot of fun. But it was also incredibly hard work. Gary and I decided to co-direct the series after the success of the pilot. But we weren't prepared for just how hard would be. He's a producer first and foremost and I'm a writer/performer. Co-directing meant we weren't able to concentrate on our day jobs. Despite the tough times, hard work, disappointments and disagreements, Gary and I remained firm friends and turned in a show we were both very proud of. Obviously I am not without my doubts and criticisms, but there's no point in telling you what I would do differently when there's a second series coming soon, and you'll see most of what I would do differently on the screen.
While we were editing the show in June and July the BBC announced the show was going to air in August. This was 2 months earlier than planned, and more importantly, not the best month for television. A month when everyone is on holiday, or out in the evenings. So we edited the show up against the clock. In fact, we were still editing episodes 4, 5 and 6 while the first one went out on BBC3.
Episode 1 was broadcast on August 12th on BBC3. The reviews were mixed - it seemed the press either loved it or hated it. However, the ratings were good. In fact they rose every week, marking the show a success for BBC3. Even some critics who originally dismissed it seemed to change their opinion as the series went out.
In October 2008 the BBC commissioned a second series. I was very pleased, not necessarily for the obvious reasons. I was keen to make a series that was better than the first. I was incredibly proud of the first season but it's not in my nature to be content. I knew it had suffered from teething problems and having listened to the feedback (probably a bit too much) I wanted to focus on what had worked first time round, and tweak what hadn't. So I spent October - February 2009 writing six new episodes.
The first step was brainstorming and discussing story-line episodes with Drew and Gary. We had already begun to discuss whether we wanted to focus another six episodes on the Don-Abby-Karl love triangle. We loved seeing Don in situations out of his depth in series one and wondered whether he needed some new territory. While we were debating these ideas we found out that Sinead Moynihan, who plays Abby, was not available for filming, as she was about to have a baby. So this answered our question. Time to really think outside the box.
Without Abby, there was no reason to have Karl. As much as we loved Karl there's no way Don would put up with him if Abby was no longer around. So, no Abby and Karl then. Not for season 2 anyway. This was daunting and exciting in equal measures. I was looking forward to writing a new female character. Although Abby was never meant to be a particularly funny part, I always felt like she should've been. We wanted Don to love someone who is pure and innocent. Someone who all men gently fell in love with. And Sinead played that part perfectly. But we wanted something different for series 2. Someone for Don to spar with. Enter Samantha. Played brilliantly by Laura Haddock.
On the surface Sam is much smarter than Don. She's savvy and sexy. And a nice person. But in fact, Sam isn't too dissimilar to Don. She too is also incapable of holding down relationships and enjoys drinking a little bit too much. Especially for someone who's trying to move forward in life. It was a lot of fun to write Sam. She's sarcastic and witty. And, with the help of Laura's performance, a little bit goofy. Laura is very good at physical comedy, which was a lovely surprise. It's such a gift to work with an actress who is beautiful AND good at being silly.
Another addition, of sorts, to the cast was Leila Hoffman as Mrs Treacher. Leila appeared in series one a few times, but she certainly wasn't a regular. The difference here being she has a proper character joke and series arc. Whereas before she was just the crazy old neighbour, now she's the crazy old widow. Constantly mourning her recently deceased husband, she is always reminding the other characters about her terrible situation. Having worked with Leila before we were desperate to get her in the second series more. She is funny. Plain and simple. Funny to look at, funny to listen to. And up for doing anything. So making Eddie her carer gave us the opportunity to have her around more.
Which brings us to Eddie Singh AKA David Armand. Eddie was a much loved character from series one and we wanted more of him. The thing I enjoyed writing the most this time round were the scenes between Don and Eddie. Particularly as their friendship blossomed. I love the fact that, through-out the two seasons, Eddie has accidentally become Don's closest friend. And towards the end of this new series we actually see their relationship put to the test.
Another big change was the director. Gary and I co-directed the first series and although it was. at times, a lot of fun, it was also very tiring and stressful. Having to worry about everything from costume to camera moves, or directing actors and blocking scenes meant I didn't really enjoy performing. I was too distracted. And being in every scene didn't help. Damn my ego! So we made the decision to get another director in. After careful consideration we offered the job to Martin Dennis, a seasoned professional. It wasn't so much his huge experience that sealed the deal for us. Yes, it's great that his extensive CV includes Men Bahaving Badly, Coupling and Never Better to name a few. But it was the fact that he had directed series 2 and 3 of Black Books, a brilliant show, I'm sure you'll agree. This meant he knew how to take on a project that already had a template, but bring something new to it. he was a pleasure to work with.
Series 2 starts airing on September 15th 2009 on BBC3.