heat meets...
Daniel, Kadiff, Adelayo & Samson
Daniel, as the creator of the series, what came first - the characters or the time-travel concept?
Daniel: The high concept came at the very last minute. I saw the success of shows like The
Inbetweeners, Drifters and Plebs and I thought, “How fun would it be to do a show like that with a gang in it, but especially a group of black people?” I play the trumpet, so I thought, “Let’s make them a jazz band!” When I started writing, it didn’t really work. Then finally I thought, “What if they went back in time?” It all clicked because there was more going on. It was immediately easier to write.
Kadiff, how was it playing such a ladies’ man?
Kadiff: I know so many guys like him, so I drew on that. In fact I based what I did quite a lot on one of my cousins….
Does he know you based your character on him?
Kadiff: Oh yes, I already told him. He sees it as a compliment.
Did you have to get naked as well?
Kadiff: Yeah, Jason also likes to get naked at every opportunity. I insist on nudity in every episode…
Daniel: He did actually insist on it. There’s a scene where he had to drop his trousers, but was supposed to keep his pants on, but Kadiff insisted on dropping his boxers, too…
Kadiff: Yeah, they asked if I wanted a closed set and I was like, “No!” I let it all hang out.
Did the rest of you get naked as well?
Daniel: Not really, but there’s a scene in which Nigel Planer lands on top of me and the big reveal is that he doesn’t have pants on. But we used a butt double. Nigel wanted to do it naked, but his wife didn’t want him to get his butt out.
Ade, what was it like being the only woman among the guys?
Adelayo: I didn’t notice it most of the time. Except for the fact that we shared a car home and every day I was straight off the set and in the car in five minutes, but these guys... I had to wait ages for them to finish moisturising and getting facials – every day!
Samson: Oh yeah, you have to moisturise. You have to keep the skin soft.
Daniel: Yeah, they gave me Dermalogica and it’s so good – it changed my life!
When the show airs, will you be checking social media for the reaction?
Kadiff: Absolutely – Twitter, Instagram, everything. If they say it’s shit, I’m going to cuss every person who says that. Samson: I’m going to go to Bolivia or something… Kadiff: I’ll send you a screen shot. Daniel: I don’t know what I’ll do. Adelayo: Me neither. Samson: Want to go to Bolivia? Daniel: Yeah, OK!