Fangs a million: Lenny Rush on turning an Eric Morecambe classic into a hilarious vampire comedy — SkimNews
Get the Culture newsletter
Daily culture — film, music, books, the trends and ideas worth your attention. Free.
- Lenny Rush stars as Val, a young scion of a bloodsucking household who turns out to be a rogue human, in 'The Reluctant Vampire,' premiering on BBC One on Sunday 4 October at 6.40pm
- Neil and Rob Gibbons, the writing team behind Alan Partridge, adapted the show from an 1980s children's book by Eric Morecambe, which Rush likens to The Naked Gun and Airplane!
- Rush, who has a form of dwarfism called spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia congenita, won a Bafta for best male performance in a comedy at 14 for 'Am I Being Unreasonable?' and was nominated again this year
- Tom Davis, Sian Clifford, Asim Chaudhry and newcomer Gabriel Nagy co-star, with Rush describing their ensemble chemistry as the key to the show's comedy
- Rush will next play Dobby in the controversial Harry Potter series reboot, a casting the article calls 'against type' for an actor known for sharp, manipulative characters
- Rush began his TV career at age 7 on CBeebies' 'Our Family,' appeared in 'Doctor Who' as Morris Gibbons, and currently features in the latest season of 'Slow Horses'
Why it matters: Rush's casting as Dobby in the embattled Harry Potter reboot — surrounded by controversy over JK Rowling's views and racist death threats to cast — gives a 17-year-old two-time Bafta nominee a chance to stretch beyond comedy. The Morecambe adaptation, meanwhile, positions a young disabled actor as the lead of a prestige BBC family show explicitly marketed as 'for everyone.'
Ask SkimNews
