E4’s Misfits was lowkey one of the cleverest British TV shows in recent memory. Following a group of London teenagers doing community service who gained superpowers, it was kind of like X-Men for British working class kids. It dealt with issues about race, class and gender, but never let that over shadow the characters and the humour.
Now after several years writing for the BBC, Misfit’s creator Howard Overman is back on E4, and covering similar ground. His new show is Crazyhead, about two girls in their early 20s who just happen to be demon hunters. Amy is stuck working a dead end job in a bowling alley, and also suffering from hallucinations about people being possessed by demons — until she meets the loud, socially incompetent but loveable Raquel, who can also see them, and they team up to take them on, armed only with exorcism rituals off Wikipedia and weapons from eBay. We spoke to Howard Overman about writing street-level fantasy, colourblind casting and if network TV is failing young people.
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Crazyhead is a show about two girls fighting monsters, but why did you pick demons in particular?
It came out of the possession thing really, people getting possessed by demons. I didn’t want them fighting things that didn’t look human. As the series goes on you realise that demons aren’t just evil — in possessing people the human element comes to change and effect them. It’s not just about humans becoming demons, its about demons becoming human.
I suppose demons are a thing already exist in folklore as well, so it’s easy for audiences to get on board…
People know what you’re talking about, and you don’t have to have scenes and scenes of explaining it. And that sort of thing can kill shows like this.
What do like about doing this sort of “street-level” fantasy or sci-fi?
It’s the challenge of doing sort of outlandish genre stuff but making it feel real. If you can make something have a reality to it, I no matter how ridiculous it is, people like the idea that it could be happening to them, or happening next door. I think that makes it more relatable, and more human and funny. We try really hard even in the most ridiculous moments to give it a grounded reality.
Crazyhead has a pretty diverse cast — not just ethnically, but also terms of accents and backgrounds. How much of that is on the page?
I sometimes read scripts where they have descriptions that start “She has green eyes, and blonde hair and…” That person is unlikely to walk through the door. Are you only going to employ someone if they’ve got the right colour hair? I just don’t really describe my characters. And then an actor comes into the room and nails it. I’d like to think we have a fairly open mind to who that person might be when it comes to physical characteristics and their look.
Misfits covered a lot of things like class, race and gender — but I’ve heard that you say that you don’t actively try to right about ‘issues’…
I’m in the entertainment industry, you know? I think it should speak to you about love, and friendship, and destiny, all those sorts of things, but I think you have to bring it out of the characters. There are shows that have a particular political agenda and that’s all well and good, but that’s not this show. The characters should feel like real humans who have the same problems we do, but I’m not choosing to any particular political issues to comment on.
You’re writing for two twenty-something girls, when you’re a man in his forties — how do you make sure you get their voices right?
I think part of it is not to get worked up about the fact that I am writing for women. I don’t think “Oh she’s a women, she should be doing this.” I just write for the characters. I’ve had things in the past where I’ve changed the gender of a character. Whether they’re men or women, you just try and write good characters. I guess if it was two blokes it would be a different show, but they might have the same issues. I just don’t think about it too much.
