STEVEN MOFFAT INTERVIEW This interview took place on 23rd November 2001 exclusively for www.richardcoyle.com JUST JEFF What was it about Richard Coyle that secured him the role of Jeff? (Question by RJ , Sue) A fantastic audition. Also he seemed absolutely 'right' with Jack, who we'd already cast as Steve - you could believe they were old friends. Why Welsh? Was Jeff written that way from the very beginning or did it come about later? Richard played him as Welsh - and indeed I didn't realise Richard wasn't Welsh until the last episode of the first series. Richard's own accent seems to vary according to his mood. "The Man With Two Legs" is clearly very, very different from the man who got "Naked". How, when and where did Jeff lose his virginity? [And who -- Julia?] (Question by Lee Harvey Osmond) Hmm. Not sure I understand this one. Jeff is absolutely the same erotic incompetent at the start of Naked as he was at the end of The Man With Two Legs. However there has never been any suggestion that he's a virgin - just someone deeply nervous of sex (and, of course, everything else.) In 'The Girl With Two Breasts' how did you and the actors handle the Hebrew content? (question by Darren Barnes) It was Portuguese in the script - although, since I don't speak Portuguese, I just wrote it all as English, which made it a very confusing read. We then had to find an actress with fabulous breasts, who was bilingual and gorgeous enough to make our resident babes jealous - tall order. When we found Anat, we changed the language to Hebrew because that was the language she could speak, and she provided the translations herself. Richard, however, never spoke Hebrew - just a 'scrambled English' gibberish language which we developed in rehearsal and which he had to memorise, so that all the cues were in place. Another tall order. Is Jeff going to try it on with Susan, or Sally? Or will Jane eventually notice he exists? (Question by Lee Harvey Osmond) Well - according to the very first episode - he *has* tried it on with Susan. And that encounter may become a flashback episode in the third series. Can't really envisage Sally and Jeff. And I kind of like it that Jane and Jeff barely know each other so it'll probably stay that way. GENERAL COUPLING Were any of the actors considered for different roles than those they were eventually chosen for? Not really. We were slightly disconcerted by how easily we found our six, so - in the spirit of thoroughness - we invited Gina and Sarah to try out for each other's roles. They politely declined, both preferring the parts they'd come along for. Does Jane have a surname? Will we ever find out what Jane's 'real' name is? Christie. As mentioned in "Jane And The Truth Snake" The original pitch for the show was "no surnames, no jobs, no backstories". Obviously that's been eroded over time, but we've still never mentioned what Steve does for a living. If you're super-observant you might just be able to work it out. Which parts of what characters are based on yourself and/or people you know? (Question by Bronágh Fegan and Lyndsay Macdonald) Well my name is Steven and my wife's name is Sue (she's the producer) so go figure. And we all shoot the location stuff for Steve's flat at our own house. Were any of the Series 2's episodes were scripts written for Series 1? (Question by Lee Harvey Osmond) No. There's a dull answer. During rehearsals do your scripts get improvised around, No. ... does each episode go through changes right up to the last minute like US sitcoms or are your words king? Very few changes are made, beyond time-cuts. Except once. In Gotcha, there's a long scene among the girls in the salon, ending with Susan storming off. Originally this was a completely different scene but at the end of the first morning's rehearsal it was clearly a disaster. So I called a taxi, hurried home, and rewrote. Did you get to see any of the completed Series 1 episodes before writing Series 2? Does having seen the cast performing your work make writing later scripts easier? (Question by Lee Harvey Osmond) Yes, I'd seen all of them. And, yes it did help. What is your personal favourite episode? (Question by Lyndsay Macdonald) I vary. Inferno, The Melty Man Cometh, Naked, The End Of The Line and The Man With Two Legs are the usual suspects. Where do you get Jeff's weird ideas, such as the Melty Man? How do you approach coming up with one of his paranoid theories? (Question by Lyndsay Macdonald) Richard and I are agreed on this: all men are Jeff. Jeff simply speaks where most men have the wisdom to stay silent. So I'm afraid I find Jeff's theories very, very easy to come up with. COUPLING FUTURE How many episodes might we expect in series three? At least seven. We're still debating. Is the Patrick/Sally thing going to develop in the coming series? (Question by Lyndsay Macdonald) Yes. Or at any rate, it will remain part of the landscape. Are we going to see some more recurring secondary characters? (Patrick's competition with Ivan was hilarious). (Question by Lee Harvey Osmond) Well Julia is a semi-regular now. And I'd like to see Ivan and Jill (Jane's therapist from series one) cropping up again, mostly because the actors involved were terrific. Any hints about what might be coming up?! Remember the first episode when Susan reveals that she's met Steve before at an office party, and we also learn that Susan and Jeff had an abortive attempt at sex? I'd like to flashback to that party, possibly as a Christmas special. Not that we have any current plans to do a Christmas special. If the BBC agreed to your every whim, how many series of Coupling would you envisage being made? The only way to survive is to take it one series at a time. How would you feel about a move similar to that of the current series of Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie to BBC1 next time around? GGG is also produced by my wife, Sue Vertue. A move to BBC1 has been discussed, but probably won't happen yet. EXTRAS Are you going to single handedly help the British Film Industry up off it's knees by writing a screenplay? What are your plans for the future? I've written a screenplay, which is now attached to a Very Big Star and will go into production in a few months. In America. So I'm helping to *keep* the British Film Industry on its knees. Copyright © 2001-2004 RICHARDCOYLE.COM All Rights Reserved