Interview with Joe Tucker and Lloyd Woolf (Writers)
After accidentally seeing a gangland shooting, Leanne and Rhona are thrown in to witness protection. But when a corrupt cop leaks their whereabouts to the gang, they’re forced to go on the run...
Published: 20 January 2017
Without wishing to give too much away, expect capers, thrills, disguises, guns, contextually justified violence, a caravan break-in and a brief but impactful shot of testicles.
Tell us about Witless.
Witless is a TV show about two flatmates, Leanne and Rhona, who witness a shooting and are placed into witness protection. And it’s not witness protection like in the movies where you’re packed off to Hawaii or a ruggedly beautiful Scottish island - they’re about 45 minutes down the road in a council flat in Swindon. Rhona is naturally horrified by this turn of events whilst Leanne is quite excited at the prospect of finally putting her BTEC Drama qualification to good use. But the plot gets thicker when, by chance, they meet someone who they discover knows the killer.
What can we expect from series two?
Without wishing to give too much away, expect capers, thrills, disguises, guns, contextually justified violence, a caravan break-in and a brief but impactful shot of testicles. Expect to find out what happens to Jackie and Appraisal and expect to finally meet ‘Osama Bin Big Bollocks’. Basically, if you’ve seen series one then you can expect more of the same but with even bigger stakes as Leanne and Rhona get themselves deeper into trouble.
How have the characters changed or developed since they were first put into witness protection?
When they were first placed in witness protection it was all a just a big inconvenience for Rhona and a bit of a game to Leanne. But by the end of series one, to quote Bad Boys II: “Shit just got real”.
In the face of new adversity, Leanne tries to be a little more pragmatic and a bit less of a walking chaos magnet; and Rhona gets more creative as she relaxes her tendency for rules and order. They’ve grown much closer through their shared ordeal (alright, Rhona has relented and reciprocated some of Leanne’s adoration) but their friendship is tested to the max in series two as they learn their predicament may be worse than they first thought and Rhona becomes increasingly ruthless in her pursuit of freedom.
How tricky is it balance of comedy with the drama and jeopardy?
It’s a living nightmare in myriad ways we never could have imagined when we embarked on this project. Not really - it can be a bit tricky because, unlike a traditional sitcom, the ‘sit’ keeps evolving and, unlike a traditional thriller, this has been commissioned by the comedy department of a major broadcaster and certain obligations come with that.
We’ve gotten pretty used to writing the Witless tone now so the real hard work is trying to make the story work, and trying to deliver as many twists as we credibly can. But it’s not hard work like real hard work - more like doing a proper bastard of a crossword or playing a particularly gnarly game of chess.
