Alan Carr provides giggles and nostalgia
SOMETIMES fact is stranger, more fascinating and hilarious than fiction – that’s certainly the case with Changing Ends.
The sitcom’s first series made its debut on streaming service ITVX last June, and was an instant hit with fans, so much so a second run was immediately commissioned; it’s expected to drop onto the platform this summer.
Ahead of that, there’s another chance (or a first one) to watch those opening episodes when they begin a traditional TV run this week.
For the uninitiated, the programme is inspired by the early life of Alan Carr, who grew up in 1980s Northampton with his parents and younger brother.
“If someone had told little old me back in Northampton in the mid-80’s that ITV would give me my own sitcom based on my life I would have choked on my Flumps,” laughs the comedian. “Super proud that I can share my story with you – expect lots of giggles, pathos and nostalgia and believe it or not football – who knew?!”
It was not an inclusive era, and Carr admits he was bullied, but not necessarily for the reasons you might think – it was because his dad, Graham, was then the manager of the town’s professional football club.
“I’d get bullied because of the results on Saturday,” he sighs, remembering the unfairness of it all. “I never said I was a good footballer, but when I’d go to school, they’d find out who my dad was, and they’d make me team captain. I was like, ‘No, no, there’s been a terrible mistake’. And of course I’d toe punt it over a fence and then that was it. I was the substitute.”
Carr also co-wrote the scripts with Two Doors Down creator Simon Carlyle, and pops up in the show playing himself in the present day. Finding someone to tackle the role of young Alan wasn’t easy, but 13-year-old Oliver Savell is a revelation.
“He wasn’t like a seagull operating a fax machine… He was spot on with the intelligence, the timing and everything,” explains Carr.
The series is, however, tinged with some sadness. Carlyle passed away last year, leaving everyone involved in the show devastated, including Carr, who described himself as “heartbroken” by the news, stating: “As you’d expect, like his scripts he was so so funny, witty and clever. The writing room was always full of laughter when he was around. The world of comedy has lost a true talent.”
Carr has written the entire second series himself, and he’s thrilled that both will receive a pre-watershed time slot: “I wanted people to watch it with their mum and dad, if you are a little bit different and stuff.
“I was getting on really well until I went to secondary school… (suddenly) no-one wants to talk about Murder She Wrote or Golden Girls.”
He adds that he’s proud of the finished result, calling it “amazing”. Carr should be proud too, he’s come up with a heartwarming, charming and often hilarious show that may act as an inspiration to others – something young Alan could only have ever dreamed about.