Chris Lilley returns

Comedy fans, rejoice: Chris Lilley, the man behind Summer Heights High, is returning to our TV screens next month. Angry Boys is a new mockumentary in which Lilley plays the lead roles and has already notched up this year’s highest ratings on its Australian network. Lilley took time out to introduce ShortList to the gang…

DANIEL AND NATHAN SIMS

“These twins featured in my first show, [2005’s] We Can Be Heroes. Since I play both of them, we use a body double for every scene. Nathan has a trick called ‘sneaky nuts’, where he takes his testicles out during a photo. I grew up with two older brothers who were like them.”

RUTH ‘GRAN’ SIMS

“Ruth is Daniel and Nathan’s grandma. She works at a juvenile boys’ prison and has ways of disciplining people that are quite unorthodox. In one scene Gran breaks up a fight that happened for real. The actors started picking on each other and I thought, ‘This is perfect.’”

S.MOUSE

“S.mouse is about the manufactured nature of mainstream hip-hop. He thinks he’s this big talent, but he’s not. When we first meet him he’s getting bad press for being soft, so he starts being rebellious and is put under house arrest. I liked the idea of putting this tough rapper back in his parents’ home where he’s getting bossed around by his dad. He’s the character on the show of whom I’m most proud.”

BLAKE OAKFIELD

“Blake is a surfer who used to be a big deal, but he’s past his prime. I’ve met a lot of surfers and I love that they get so territorial over their surf spots. It’s such an aggressive, masculine thing — ‘These are our tattoos, this is our gang.’ But they’re all talk.”

JEN OKAZAKI

“Jen came about because I wanted to play a genuinely evil, nasty character. She’s the overbearing mother of a skateboarder and she’s both abusive and exploitative. When people first saw the script, they assumed I would play the kid, but I was like, ‘No — I’m the mum.’ The most laughs on set came when we were doing Jen.”

Angry Boys starts on BBC Three on 7 June

(Main image: BBC)