SIC heat meets… Joe Gilgun

Where did the inspiration for the lion storyline come from?

Years ago, my mate – one of the original creators of the show – showed me something online about the beasts of Bodmin and it sent me down a rabbit hole of conspiracy theories. I love all that, even though I know a lot of it is bullshit. So, I always wanted to do something similar. Also, I was allegedly involved in the stealing of quite a violent tropical cat.

This series, you’ve really upped the ante, haven’t you?

We have. The reason it’s gone bigger is because you don’t want it to go stale, and we want to remind everyone we’re f**king brilliant. What we realised about our show is there’s a lot of attitude and anarchy to it, and we liked that.

You also explore Vinnie’s headspace more. The last scenes of episode four are particularly poignant...

It’s an autobiographical show, so all that shit you’re seeing is real. Vinnie is a mirror image of me and my mental health [Joe has ADHD and bipolar]. I’m genuinely a nightmare. You’ve no idea that you’re carrying all this tension with you every day, but eventually, it just takes that one person to ask if you’re OK. When my head hit the bed in that scene, that’s when it all came out.

Dominic West is back as the useless GP, and there’s some incredible role play in the first episode. Was it hard to convince him to do?

He didn’t need convincing, as he’s the best sport, dude. He knew we wanted to make an A-list celebrity look like a dick on our TV show, so he did it for us. He did it without a single complaint, and it’s hilariously funny. He’s brilliant. People tuned into our show because Dom was in it, and I owe an awful lot to him. That’s my special mate, that. I really do love him.