Greg McHugh is Howard

1 September 2011

"socially-awkward"

Greg McHugh is no stranger to the set up in Fresh Meat, having had many house-sharing experiences during his time at university and drama school.

"I've lived in a lot of bizarre houses with a lot of bizarre people and this show rings very true," recalls Greg.

"I lived with a guy in one flat in Glasgow who wouldn't leave his toothbrush in the bathroom. Now that is probably quite wise but it makes you think what happened to you that you'll never leave your toothbrush unattended? And he took his own toilet roll. He had a lot of issues.

"I had a flat share with seven boys living together in a flat in Stirling at one point. That was very smelly and had lots of bad posters on the walls and lots of lads' chat which I partook in as much as I could, it not really being my thing."

Greg did a business degree at Stirling University and then a post graduate course in performance and acting at The Royal Academy, Glasgow. But it was while sharing a house with five girls (yes five) that Greg had his ultimate student experience...

"At university I fell somewhere between being slightly apathetic to not really being a party animal - that would give me a sense of notoriety or great fun and I don't know if had any of that. However I wasn't really into business so I spent my whole time writing and acting then going out loads of a night and I certainly had a few majorly drunken incidents happen to me over the course of five years!

"One evening I went out, got very drunk, came back to my room and fell over onto a unit which held my TV and hi-fi system. I hit my head on a speaker that was on the floor and knocked myself unconscious. The next day I woke up with a TV on my back and sick in my shoes. I genuinely didn't know what was going on. I probably could have died so it's not really that funny especially as I started hoovering up the sick which you shouldn't do because of the risk of electrocution...but waking up with a TV on your back is definitely the sign of a good night out."

Talking about his character in Fresh Meat, Greg says: "Howard changed course, so he has been at university for two years already. He started a course he didn't like so moved from philosophy to geology. He's kind of the odd ball of the house. He was quite badly bullied the year before so these new guys are a bit easier for him to cope with although he finds JP quite difficult to deal with. Howard slowly eases into the group and finds he actually quite likes them.

"He has quite a few idiosyncrasies. In the opening scene he is hair drying Peking ducks without any trousers or indeed pants on. So in those scenes I'm naked from the waist down which was a lot of fun to shoot, as you can imagine! Howard's a hoarder; he slightly lacks emotional empathy towards people but is quite loyal though. He finds it hard to build up relationships with people until he meets his nemesis Brian later in the show."

Continues Greg: "I genuinely think the appeal of the show, apart from the fact that the scripts are hilarious and brilliantly written and the characters so well drawn, is that people will either have seen these incidents or been part of similar incidents that happen in the episodes and will have met the people like the characters. Even if they haven't gone to uni yet people will identify with the types of characters if not the scenarios.

Everyone knows someone a bit like Howard who was a bit bizarre at school or someone a bit like JP who is posh and over-bearing. The characters are so well drawn that people will recognise them.  The draw is the reality but also the characters and ultimately the laughs and jokes; it's the whole mix."

And part of that mix has been living close by his co-stars in Fresh Meat.

"We've all been living in flats near each other so we've had lot of nights out, lots of drinking but nothing too scandalous. It has been a real bonding experience. We all get on genuinely really well. We eat out together about eight times a week, and go out but we can't go too crazy because the schedule is pretty nuts. But if we have a later start or day off...it's all method of course, coming in stinking of booze. I'm not joking; we're playing students. I think they've saved a lot of time in make-up from us coming in looking worse for wear!"

So, what made Bafta award-winning creator, writer and star of the hit BBC comedy Gary:Tank Commander want to be part of Fresh Meat?

"Writing of such quality from Sam, Jesse and the whole team of writers involved.  It is a total joy for me and I don't have the weight of the production on my shoulders; writer and playing the lead character plus getting involved in other production issues.

"To come onto this and get to play a great character with funny lines is a total dream job. Gary and my other stuff is rewarding in another way. Getting to shoot a Bain and Armstrong series is a total goal for a comedy actor."