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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Mark Jefferies

Neil Morrissey eyes up Men Behaving Badly reboot but fears sitcom is not 'woke' enough

Actor Neil Morrissey says it would be 'fun' to revive Men Behaving Badly but fears its laddish characters would be a turn-off in 2022.

The 59-year-old starred alongside Martin Clunes, 60, in the hit 1990s TV show, where they played beer-drinking flatmates Tony and Gary.

Leslie Ash, 62, and Caroline Quentin, 61, played their long-suffering girlfriends, Debs and Dorothy.

Neil told how he would love to record new episodes of the show – which ran for six series – but says it would probably only make it on modern-day TV if his character became 'completely woke'.

Asked if Men Behaving Badly could return, Line of Duty star Neil said: “It’s all about the script. If Simon [Nye] writes something marvellous, we’d obviously have a look at it.

Neil says it would be 'fun' to revive Men Behaving Badly (STOKE SENTINEL)
The actor worries the show wouldn't go down well with the audiences of 2022 (Daily Mirror)

“I don’t know if we could make it again now, though. It’s not woke enough is it? Putting ladies’ underpants on my head… things like that.

“I guess Leslie was objectified a bit by my character. But that was the point of it – that we were really rubbish, and they were really cool and smart. We were a couple of misogynist idiots who couldn’t keep a job, let alone a girlfriend.

“I don’t know if it would work [now], but it would be fun trying. The way to do it would be to have the wokeness involved, in that Tony is so PC it’s unbelievable. They would just have to have lapses after several beers on the sofa.”

Neil revealed that he and Martin often discuss the show’s return, but said they would demand huge fees, joking it would be a “retirement gig” for the pair.

Neil revealed that he and former co-star Martin often discuss the show’s return (BBC)

Neil is currently appearing in ITV medical drama Good Karma Hospital.

The show is filmed in Sri Lanka and Neil harked back to his Men Behaving Badly days while staying at a beachside hotel there during lockdown last year.

He told The Convex Conversation podcast: “We drank them out of beer in the first week. They couldn’t get beer because the brewery was closed, so they had to ship it in from other hotels.”

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