An interview with actor Lenny Rush who plays Ollie in the new BBC comedy Am I Being Unreasonable?, starring Daisy May Cooper and Selin Hizli and written by Daisy May Cooper and Selin Hizli coming to your screens this autumn.

Can you tell us about Ollie.

I think Ollie is a complicated character mentally. In terms of his relationship with Nic, obviously Nic’s his mum but it seems like the other way round. Ollie seems like a grown up in the relationship, and he gives Nic advice for simple things and I think Ollie is the one that keeps Nic going through tough times.

Do you think she relies on him?

Yes I think so.

What was it like working with Daisy May Cooper?

It was a dream come true, it was incredible. I remember watching Daisy on This Country and being blown away. She's so funny, and that's what she's like in real life. She's just the funniest person you could ever meet. She's the kindest and obviously on other projects Daisy works on, she does a lot of improvisation, so we do that a lot on this show. Personally, I think I prefer that because I think it seems a lot more relaxed. It comes across more natural. And not even just Daisy, from the producers, directors, drivers, absolutely everyone, cameraman, everyone was lovely. Because I was there for so long, it felt like a massive family.

How did you get cast as Ollie?

Well, at the time, I was actually filming on another production, and I just got the email from my agent, and it was just to ask, would Lenny like to audition for a role of Ollie, who is coming up in a show called Am I Being Unreasonable? And I think it kind of gripped me straight away.

Did you read a bit of background first on the character in the story.

Yes a bit on Ollie, what he does and how he acts. And then I did one self tape, and then I got called back again. But it was a zoom meeting because of covid and everything. The zoom meeting is where I met the director, Johnny, and I think the zoom meeting kind of decided that I was going to be on it.

What was it like working with Ruben who plays Jen’s son Harry?

Ruben was lovely. He was the best. The relationship with Ollie and Harry in the programme, it's just like real life best friends. Behind the scenes we’d go out and do activities, we’d go to restaurants. We were just such good friends. And I think the reason we got so close as well is because in the show, there's not many other kids apart from Noah, who plays Dennon, and he was lovely. We all got along so well.

Did you have a favourite scene you filmed?

There was a scene, it's Ollie's birthday party, and what Johnny wanted was just literally all the kids to go crazy. I'm on my segway kids going crazy. It was so fun, whacking each other with inflatables, the dream come true.

Finally can you describe the show in three words?

I think it's unique, gripping and obviously funny and it's just something that you never usually see on telly. Yeah, it’s very unique.

Interview supplied by BBC

Picture: Boffola Pictures/Ben Meadows