It’s Plebs ...dialled up to 11
As hit comedy Plebs returns for a final feature-length episode, DANIELLE DE WOLFE sits down with its stars Tom Rosenthal and Tom Basden to learn what fans can expect
THE Roman Empire and slapstick comedy aren’t subjects you’d usually combine. However, when ITV’S Bafta-nominated comedy Plebs first hit screens in 2013, it proved an instant hit among viewers.
A chortle-worthy tale of masters and slaves during the Roman Empire, the series follows a merry band of ‘plebs’ as they attempt to climb Ancient Rome’s slippery social ladder.
Written by and starring After Life actor and double Bafta-nominee Tom Basden, 42, as Aurelius, his character can only be described as a highly insecure individual who was once employed as a water carrier. Joined by Friday Night Dinner’s Tom Rosenthal, 34, his character, Marcus, is Aurelius’s former flatmate, whose job it is to serve eviction notices in and around the Roman capital.
Set to return to streaming service ITVX for a one-off featurelength special, Plebs: Soldiers Of Rome sees the merry duo joined by Marcus’s slave Grumio and party boy and builder Jason, as the quartet join the Roman army. Naturally, this sign-up isn’t out of unbridled loyalty.
With the Empire experiencing a brief moment of peace, the group have their sights set on romance, freebies and armed forces discounts. But when war looms, the smugness expressed by the ramshackle bunch is soon replaced with utter terror.
Ahead of the episode, we learn more from the duo.
What can fans expect from this feature-length farewell?
Tom Rosenthal: Well, it’s the length of the feature and you’re gonna have to say goodbye after it. What we’ve tried to do is give an episode of Plebs a bit more length, and a bit more war. The stuff that you like in Plebs will still be there, but there’s some action sequences.
At times, in very small windows, it will look like a film that Russell Crowe should be in as opposed to Tom Rosenthal.
That’s the plan anyway.
Tom Basden: I think maybe a film Russell Crowe should have been in 20 years ago, I dunno about now! It’s all the characters that everyone’s watched for however many years and knows and loves, but in an environment that is very dynamic, exciting and explosive – and just on a much bigger scale, in a story that spans Europe and takes our characters into places that they’ve never experienced before. So hopefully it’s all of the things that people enjoy about Plebs but dialled up to 11 and put on a much more exciting canvas.
What made this a feature-length episode as opposed to a series?
Tom Basden: By now, we know the characters so well that I feel like this was our opportunity to say goodbye to the show – both from a writing point of view, and also for the actors in it. Telling one story, over a longer period of time, it’s just a much more satisfying way to do that. You can thread in storylines over a much longer period but also pay off stuff that’s been brewing for the last five series.
For us, there was a huge appeal about taking the boys somewhere new and really taking them out of their comfort zone, and also telling a different kind of story.
Plebs contains a lot of silliness, but it also explores male friendships, do fans feed back to you on that?
Tom Rosenthal: I can’t say anyone has ever gone ‘You know what, Plebs – what a beautiful encapsulation of male friendships.’ I mean, they are friends... I don’t know whether we’re the best example of friends...
I would say the actors in Plebs, who are the plebs, are some of my best friends. We have become very close making the show. You’d hope that’s somewhat translated on screen, even if we are these slight caricatures who are bickering with each other all the time.
We spent so much time together, and we shared so much together, I do think that we as people are quite good iterations of male friendships. Basically, I’d have no friends if I hadn’t worked with them.
There are some impressive fight scenes, were there any stunt mishaps?
Tom Rosenthal: There’s one bit [where] I have to hit Kare Conradi, who plays Segimundus, with a sword, but he had a pad to stop him getting bruised. I missed the pad about nine times and I just kept apologising, ‘Sorry I’m missing the pad.’ He was very patient with it, he forgave me many more times than he should. And then for about three weeks afterwards, he would just text me a picture of his arm, which was getting progressively more and more blue. I’d essentially scarred one of Norway’s greatest actors with my sword and accuracy.
We see one character’s sweetheart waiting for him at home. Did a lot of research go into the war side of these storylines?
Tom Basden: We watched a lot of war films when we started out writing this, and also those classic comedy war films Stripes and Spies Like Us, along with Platoon – which the scene you’re talking about is kind of a homage to.
Do you often get accosted by fans thanking you for creating the show?
Tom Basden: In terms of demographic, I don’t know if you’ve found this Tom, but it’s a mixture of young lads and also a lot of, like, friends of my mum’s... I think a lot of people, a lot of people who are a bit older – more like sort of 50, 60, 70-odd, really enjoy how rude it is and really love the sort of voyeurism.
[They] just take a lot of pleasure from seeing these people getting humiliated, which is what we obviously put Tom through every week.
Tom Rosenthal: I think I’ve had four or five people who work behind bars tell me it’s their favourite show. So maybe that’s an answer to your question. Anyone who’s attracted to the hospitality trade seems to be a massive fan.
■ Plebs: Soldiers Of Rome is available to stream on ITVX from Thursday