Jack Dee: Crazy Grizzo is based on Blur’s Alex & Robbie Williams
Jack Dee says crazy ex-rocker Grizzo in his new sitcom is based on chance meetings he had with Robbie Williams and Blur’s Alex James.
Jack and Kerry Godliman play a couple who move to the country and find themselves saddled with annoying neighbours in ITV1’s Bad Move. One, a relentlessly cheerful and bouncy pop star who holds all-night parties, is apparently based on a mix of Alex, who gave up partying in Blur to make cheese in the Cotswolds, and Rob.
Jack says: “We liked the idea of someone who just leads the sort of fantasy life in the country you read about in the papers.
“Alex James has that shambolic and blessed kind of aura. He was an inspiration and also Robbie Williams, who I talked to about this because I was working with his wife Ayda. He said, ‘I want to be in it’, and I said, ‘You kind of are!’.”
In the show, the couple think the country house is going to be their dream home but soon discover they can’t bear the quiet life. Jack adds: “Robbie said he had similar experiences, so he totally got the point of the show.”
Jack reckons if there’s a second series, Robbie and Alex would be up for cameos as friends of rocker Grizzo, played by Seann Walsh.