CAFE CULTURE
JIMMY AKINGBOLA AND BRENDA BLETHYN STAR IN A NEW COMEDY…
Kate is a plain-speaking woman who runs a no-frills cafe – if you want froth in your coffee, you’d best go elsewhere! So when she finds asylum seeker Koji making one cup of tea last the whole day, the two are soon at loggerheads. Fortunately, when Inside TV joined stars Brenda Blethyn and Jimmy Akingbola during a break in rehearsals, things were more friendly…
Describe your characters to us…
Jimmy We’re like a lovely odd couple. I feel in some ways they’re quite similar, even though they’re from different places. Brenda They’ve both been disappointed in life and are trying to stay afloat, so they have that similarity.
Jimmy I like how proud they are – they never back down. There’s an argument at the end of episode one that could go on for another couple of hours! But there’s strength and warmth underneath all that.
How will we see their relationship evolving?
Brenda They deal with real issues, and even if it seems like there are prejudices, they work through those. They begin to understand where the other is coming from.
Jimmy You’re not being hit over the head with it – it’s almost as if that stuff is in the background. Yet we’re still saying something in each episode, in terms of immigration and what’s going on in our country right now.
Brenda Then you’ve got Blake Harrison, who plays Medium, and he’s keeping the peace between them.
Jimmy He’s the inbetweener!
You record the show in front of a live audience – what’s that like?
Brenda Well, you try to do it as honestly as you can. If you’re not asking for a laugh, you might get one. But if you ask for one, you probably won’t!
Jimmy We’ve had days where Brenda’s said something, and I’ve had to pretend to do something at the table because the laughter goes on for so long – you don’t want to crash it, and that’s such a joy. Last week, we had a very interesting episode where I couldn’t remember my lines…
Brenda Oh, they loved that!
Jimmy I did it on purpose, obviously!