KEYS TO THE KINGDOM
JAMIE DEMETRIOU STARS IN A NEW COMEDY ABOUT A DEEPLY INEPT ESTATE AGENT…
It ought to be statistically impossible to be bad at letting flats in London: it’s a city where demand outstrips supply, and no matter what ludicrous price you might be charging, there’s always someone willing to pay it. And yet here is Stath, the anti-hero of this new comedy, whose work for his family’s lettings agency in north London is so thoroughly shambolic that he can’t even be trusted to answer the phone…
“He’s a shocker,” chuckles Jamie Demetriou, who created the series and plays Stath. “When you’re showing someone around a flat, it’s yours to lose, so you could just stay in silence. He just talks – he’ll point at a wall and tell them it’s a wall, just in case they were wondering. And assure them that it’s not just a wall, it’s a ‘very nice wall’.”
Like all of the best comic characters, Stath is only vaguely aware of his limitations – and he has a tendency to blame them on other people, because it’s so much easier than bothering to reflect on his own shortcomings.
“Stath is very easily broken down by anyone around him because he’s so thick,” explains Jamie. “The only people who he really gets on with are the ones who don’t talk back to him. There’s a very mild character called Al, who Stath thinks is the nicest guy in the world purely because he doesn’t really say anything to him.”
In the opening episode, Stath learns that his father is planning to retire – but is outraged when he discovers that his dad doesn’t think him capable of taking over the reins at Michael & Eagle. So Stath sets out to let a flat by any means necessary, and isn’t above stealing clients from his much more efficient nemesis Carole. But despite his character’s general uselessness, Jamie hopes that we’ll still find some sympathy for him.
“I think people will root for Stath because he’s a muppet,” grins the actor. “He’s somebody who’s clambering for his dad’s affection – he definitely wasn’t born to be a lettings agent, he just wants to do what his dad does. He’s a shyster, but only through his own lack of intelligence – he doesn’t think ‘I’m going to stitch these people up’, he just wants to get the job done. I think he’s an underdog – and that’s always a useful string to a horrible character’s bow!”