WHAT MADE YOU WANT TO DO A FAMILY COMEDY?
To be perfectly honest, I don't think I had wanted to do a family comedy before. I think it's getting older, having kids myself and beginning to find your parents and grandparents funny, rather than just annoying.
There's a change that happens – you just have a slightly different perspective on family when you realise that you're turning into an embarrassing dad.
The other thing is hitting on the idea of having Sam filming everything – it convinced me there was a way of doing this show without just copying other things, without making something that felt too familiar, that we've seen before.
Once I'd seen it from that perspective, and seen all the things you could do with the youngest son filming everything, I got really excited about it and felt like we could do something that feels very different.
DID YOU HAVE ANY ACTORS IN MIND WHEN YOU WROTE IT?
I did! I certainly had Katherine Parkinson in mind, and with Jim Howick and Alison Steadman I was hoping they would do it. When they agreed, they were both so fantastic, and so right for the roles – that it was a delight. Having made the pilot [which was called Pandemonium], I could write the series for their voices, and that made my life a lot easier.
With the other roles, like Robin's girlfriend Cherry and Rachel and Paul's daughter Amy, when we were casting the pilot, I didn't know exactly how the characters sounded or what they were like. When Tori [Allen-Martin] and Freya [Parks] auditioned, I instantly got it.
In some ways, I owe them quite a lot in terms of what the character became – they've definitely put their mark on it and brought out something really funny and distinctive.
HAS YOUR PERSONALITY FILTERED INTO THE CHARACTERS?
There are bits of me in all the characters: there's bits of Paul that I've said or recognise myself in, and there are definitely bits of Rachel in me when it comes to constantly trying to get my family out of the door and trying to take charge, but being quite inept at doing so. I think when you're writing stuff, you tend to carve up bits of your personality and to divide them among your characters a little bit.
I'd say I have some similarities with Robin [Basden's character], but luckily not many! He's quite sensitive, he's very needy, he's the opposite of stoic: I think everything affects him quite a lot. He's a very loving boyfriend, but probably a bit of a nightmare to go out with. He's a bit 'in your face' as a character.
WHY DID YOU DECIDE TO FILM IT FROM THE YOUNGEST SON SAM'S PERSPECTIVE?
I quite like being able to acknowledge the camera. I made the film David Brent: Life On The Road with Ricky Gervais a few years ago and that was the first time I got to do that – to play that game of acknowledging the camera and looking as if to say, 'Are you hearing this?' I think it can add a lot of extra humour, because you're able to play with what the character is and isn't aware of.
DO YOU WANT TO FILM A CHRISTMAS EPISODE?
I would love to do a Christmas episode for the family, because they would go big on their plans and they would also crumble around them, one way or another.
:: Here We Go will air weekly on BBC One at 8.30pm from Friday April 29 and will also be available as a box set on BBC iPlayer
