Starring Peep Show’s Robert Webb and Isy Suttie, High Hoops tells the story of a charmingly reckless high school basketball player and her chaotic pursuit of success, fame, love and the perfect hook shot.
The show also features Darci Hull as lead character Aoife. Robert Webb plays headteacher Mr Holt, Isy Suttie plays Aoife’s mum Bríd and Nigel Boyle (Line of Duty) plays school basketball coach Jim.
Following the exploits of a failing school basketball team and the arrival of tall, gaffe-prone but unstoppable Aoife O’Neill, the show is about determination, finding your tribe, and being true to yourself.
Interview with Robert Webb (Mr Holt) and Isy Suttie (Bríd)
Tell us about your characters?
Robert Webb: I play Mr Holt, who is the head teacher of the school. Mr Holt tends to be aggressive, competitive, angry. He's one of those teachers who is still using sarcasm as his main form of communication, probably as his teachers did to him in the 1980s. All of the excellent teacher training that happened between then and now seems to have just passed him by. He still speaks to the kids, particularly Aoife, really quite disrespectfully, which is lots of fun for me.
Isy Suttie: My character Bríd is a single parent, she’s got two kids who are going through different things emotionally. Bríd really likes meditation and mindfulness, but she's also quite competitive, so she's often boasting about being the best one at mindfulness, which is a bit how I am in real life!
What attracted you to High Hoops?
Isy: When I read the scripts, I thought it was really funny, and I read it without knowing it was aimed at kids, and thought, this is a really great family sitcom, and then learnt it was going to be on CBBC. So for me, the comedy came first.
Rob: I thought it was really funny, and I thought the scripts were good, and I particularly liked Mr Holt because I just get to run around being angry, and I got to grow a moustache, which I've always wanted to.
Aoife wants to fit in but she finds she can’t help but stand out. High Hoops is a celebration of standing out, is that theme important to you? Do you think it’s important for children to see that depicted on screen, that it’s ok to be yourself?
Rob: I like that Aoife realises that she's come to a new school and she's sort of decided, I'm going to be cool now, it's not going to be like before. I'm going to be one of the cool girls. And then immediately she joins the basketball team, and they're all just sort of goofing around and falling over. I think goofing around and falling over is what people who are 14 should be doing.
Isy: I think it's nice to see girls playing sport as well, celebrating the fact that they all approach it in different ways.
(Image: BBC/CanCan Productions)
