On screen: Rain Dogs

As the brand-new Bristol-filmed BBC series, Rain Dogs, prepares to hit our screens on 4 April, we sit down with producer Ciara Mcllvenny and cast members Jack Farthing and Ronkẹ Adékoluẹjo to talk breaking boundaries...

The BBC’s new eight-episode comedy-drama, Rain Dogs, has already garnered rave reviews in the US after airing on HBO in March. Starring BAFTA Award-winning West Country actress Daisy May Cooper (ThisCountry), alongside Jack Farthing (Poldark, Spencer), Ronkẹ Adékoluẹjo (AlexRider, Chevalier, DoctorWho) and Fleur Tashjian in her debut role, the series has been described by RollingStone as one of the most surprising shows of the year.

Named after Tom Waits’ record – which, as he mentioned during an interview in 1985, was a metaphor for “people in pain with no sense of direction” – RainDogs chronicles the life of Costello Jones (Daisy May Cooper), a single mother and writer with a rock and roll swagger who wants more for her 10-year-old daughter, Iris (Fleur Tashjian). As she hustles hard to survive on the fringes of society, Costello leans on Selby (Jack Farthing), a privileged gay man who has become Iris’ pseudo father (and Costello’s pseudo soulmate), and Gloria (Ronkẹ Adékoluẹjo), the duo’s loyal yet chaotic best friend. Together they form a makeshift family bound by a complex but deep-rooted love and defiance towards a system built against them.

Written and produced by first-time creator Cash Carraway, whose memoir SkintEstate recounts her life as a working-class, single mother living in poverty during the 2010s, this new comedy is “told with a dark lick of humour and an anarchic attitude”. Made by Sid Gentle Films – the award-winning production company behind KillingEve and TheDurrells – RainDogs is the first creation from the company’s new development and production arm, Sid Wild, based in Bristol at The Bottle Yard Studios. Ahead of the first episode on 4 April, producer Ciara Mcllvenny and cast members Jack Farthing and Ronkẹ Adékoluẹjo reflect on Carraway’s brilliant writing and the extraordinary characters that she’s created.

“When I first read the script, I fell in love with the characters,” says Mcllvenny. “It wasn’t like any other film or show that I had seen about that world. Cash Carraway wanted to tell an entertaining story about the working class and that’s why I felt this script was very fresh and different.”

The main characters entertain, surprise and shock in equal measure. Describing Selby as a “complicated, tricky, controlling but deeply lovable person – someone who has a lot of love inside him but has no idea how to give it”, Farthing stressed that Carraway’s ability to strip the characters of their preconceived labels was particularly compelling.

“The show and all the characters in it are not stereotypes, they’re not the kind of people you normally see. I think the show is intentionally pulling apart what you might expect someone like that to be, and that is always the most appealing thing to me. I hope after you spend eight episodes with these characters, you’ll see that labels are useless.”

Adékoluẹjo echoes Farthing’s comments: “Gloria has been described as chaotic. She goes on impulse – she’s very in the moment, which can actually be quite admirable. I feel like she doesn’t really exist within the boundaries of what people are.”

From the outset, the series is filled with bracing moments of heartache followed by waves of warmth and humour from Cooper and the entire cast. This brilliant, biting debut series from Sid Wild is bold and unique – and, ultimately, a sign of great things to come from the new Bristolbased company. Speaking of their time working in the city, McIlvenny added: “Making Rain Dogs in Bristol has been a great experience – it’s an incredibly film-friendly city, it felt like everyone really wanted us to be here. We were lucky to have a brilliant, talented and hard-working crew, around 70% of whom were based in Bristol and the West. The Film Office were accommodating and very helpful and The Bottle Yard Studios were a fantastic partner... we are looking forward to making many more shows here.”

• Rain Dogs will air on BBC One and iPlayer on 4 April: bbc.co.uk/iplayer

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