The Northern Irish comedians behind 'William of Orangedale' say they have been "humbled" by the positive reaction to their comedy short set in East Belfast.
Written by Dave Elliott and William Thompson, the Blap written for Channel 4 was heavily inspired by William's own teenage years and shows what it is like to grow up with cerebral palsy and navigate life in the city.
The pair, who can be seen gigging together across Northern Ireland, spoke to Belfast Live about how the hilarious short came to be.
Read more: Comedy short 'William of Orangedale' set in East Belfast airing on Channel 4
Dave said: "We did a gig together in Galway and we just got chatting about an idea for something else we were going to work on for a while - we had the same world idea and then William thought why not put the spin on his upbringing into it and I thought that was a cool combination.
"We went from there and put a pitch together for this to see where it goes.
"I had been working with Hat Trick on another project and they asked if I had anything in the pipeline that could fit for the Blaps so we sent that over and put together a pretty quick breakdown in a day."
After a short turnaround, Dave and William sent off their idea to Channel 4 and "the rest is history" as Dave explained.
As William of Orangedale was based on William's life, he has no problem lifting stories from his own experiences to put on the screen as it is a process he is used to for his stand-up comedy gigs.
"I found it easier to write about stories that had actually happened to me than to make them up out of nowhere," William said.
"You exaggerate them and change them a bit for TV but I found it far easier to be like 'I have a story I know that ends in a funny way' than inventing something entirely."
The pair are used to working together at comedy gigs and collaborating on podcasts but explained that it was a much different process creating something for TV.
"Dave got to know how annoying I am," William laughed.
Dave added: "I had done more of the boring side of scriptwriting before so I took the formatting and the structuring of it all. I must say it was really fun - we got together in an office and put together the dialogue.
"We were acting the characters having the conversations to see where it would go and that for me was the most fun part."
William said: "There were no real arguments about what jokes should be put in because we both knew that if someone said it and we didn't both laugh, then we didn't even need to discuss it.
"I haven't acted before ever but I took it very seriously - to the point where I annoyed Dave and he told me to stop speaking to him on set because I take it very seriously and I was very critical.
"It was definitely anxiety-inducing because I have never done this thing before but the success of the whole show rides on how well I do this thing."
Positive disability representation was crucial to the storytelling as William himself was born with cerebral palsy and he wanted to show the role it plays in his real life.
He continued: "When we were writing it, I said to Dave what was important when we made the character of William is yes, he has cerebral palsy, but that isn't his entire characterisation.
"That is something that I always argue with - I have cerebral palsy but it is not my personality. I am a person who just happens to have it so it was important for that to be there.
"I also wanted to represent the people that would joke with you about it. It is in Northern Ireland and we aren't a sympathetic country so there was reluctance as to why are people making fun of him but it is what we do in this country and it doesn't matter what you have.
"It's a weird balance you have to strike but I think we got it spot on."
With over 30k views on Youtube, William and Dave are delighted to see that their hard work has paid off and people have enjoyed the show.
"The responses we've had have blown me away really," Dave said. "Everyone has been really positive about it and wanting to see more and it has been humbling to see how well it has been received.
"From a writing perspective, we would like to take the story further and would love there to be more and the responses we've had have been really encouraging."
William continued: "I've noticed, even across the water, there is a lot more acceptance of Northern Irish comedians going on and doing their own shows or getting on the TV a bit more whereas, before that, it really wasn't the case."
"The scene is great here and to get this opportunity is great - William is selling out shows in the Limelight and I've an Ulster Hall show on September 10 so it's a really cool industry to be a part of and hopefully this will be the start of another fun opportunity for local acts.
"Certainly, in my years of doing comedy, the last few years have been the best - pandemic excluded," Dave laughed.
The pair hope that we will see a full series of 'William of Orangedale' in the near future as they have the characters, stories and ideas all ready to go.
Read more: From Bloodlands to Belfast: How 2021 became a success story for Northern Ireland on film and TV
Read more: Northern Irish-made TV shows and films to look out for in 2022
To get the latest breaking news straight to your inbox, sign up to our free newsletter.
