Interview with Dylan Llewellyn who plays Jack

9 January 2024

What is Big Boys and who is Jack?

Big Boys is a show written by Jack Rooke about growing up, dealing with grief, the loss of a parent, and also going to university, making friends and discovering his sexuality. It’s a really cool coming of age story. The real Jack (Rooke) is super confident, I play him when he was younger when he was still trying to learn about himself and come out of his shell.

Jack finds himself in unfavourable situations quite a lot – what do you put that down to?

Yeah, and I think he deals with them pretty terribly! It’s the beauty of Jack's writing - he tells those wacky stories so well. I’m pretty sure half of them are true, like my curls getting stuck in Yemi’s piercing, I think that was a guy in real life. But it’s so much fun to perform those awkward scenarios. Like the ashes on the penis scene, on the day we only had one go at it to get it right because they can’t clear up all those ashes and so we had to nail it. Luckily, we did!

Jack and Danny's friendship is a core part of the show. What do you think makes their relationship so special?

I think their open mindedness is so special and lovely to see, they’re so accepting of one another even though they're complete opposites. It's nice to see them look out for each other, especially with those sensitive topics and the tough things they're going through - Jack helping Danny with his mental health, checking in and looking out for him. And Danny helping Jack with the grief of losing his dad and of course coming out and helping him on his on journey which is sweet.

What can we expect from series 2 of Big Boys?

Bigger and better, so much entertainment. More funny stuff to look forward to but also getting to know the other characters and seeing the layers to them. It’s just a great show and I can't wait for everyone to see it.

What is your favourite line from the show?

I quite like when Jules is talking about paninis, but she calls them punanis and Danny’s like “Ooh yeah I’ll have a punani” that was funny, I enjoyed that one.