It may be that Danny Dyer’s finest work will always be his 2018 diatribe on Good Evening Britain, asking pertinent questions about the approach of David Cameron to the aftermath of the Brexit referendum – or “this mad riddle”, as he called it. “So what’s happened to that twat David Cameron, who called it on?” Dyer asked the presenter Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid, sitting alongside fellow guests Jeremy Corbyn and Pamela Anderson. “How comes he can scuttle off? … Where is he? He’s in Europe, in Nice, with his trotters up, yeah – where is the geezer? I think he should be held to account for it … Twat.”
It seemed, especially the final “twat”, to come from the heart. If it didn’t, then the commitment to the Danny Dyer brand – unbroken then for 20 years, since his breakthrough hardman role in 1999’s Human Traffic – is in itself an achievement.
His appearance in Sky’s Mr Bigstuff channels his charisma and comedy chops, but is not likely to challenge the trotter-crown. Nevertheless, it remains an amiable enough series of half hours to spend in his company.
It is written by and co-stars Ryan Sampson, best known for acting roles in Brassic and Plebs. Sampson plays Glen, a quintessential beta male. He is three months away from marrying his cheery fiancee, Kirsty (Harriet Webb, whose own everywoman charisma and comedy chops do much to keep the show afloat). He is also plagued by erectile dysfunction: we open with him failing to respond to manual stimulation from Kirsty in a car round the back of Halfords. Despite his commitment to his job, he is struggling to get a long-overdue promotion at World of Carpets from his irascible boss, Ian (Adrian Scarborough).
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Into this faintly bleak, but calm and manageable life is dropped the bombshell that is Lee (Dyer). At first, it seems that the man who has tracked down Glen is some sort of gangster, bent on doing Glen harm. But in fact – not-much-of-a-spoiler alert! – Lee and Glen are brothers, albeit ones who haven’t spoken for years, since Lee went off to live life and Glen stayed at home to look after their ailing mum.
Kirsty initially thinks Lee’s arrival is because Glen is secretly a drug addict and Lee his dealer. But Lee swiftly puts her mind at ease: “I don’t think crackheads come in beige, do you?”
Hijinks, occasionally nudging caper territory, duly ensue. Lee kidnaps Ian to force Glen to meet him, which brings so much colour to Ian’s life that he is thereafter in (possibly homoerotic) thrall to big bro. The brothers bicker and fight on the Dagenham beaches (or, at least, river shorelines). Kirsty shoplifts, because she is at a loose end after being suspended from work for stealing. Lee must track down his godfather, Steve (Geoff Bell, turning in a superbly repellent performance – and I say this regarding a series in which phlegm-water is drunk), and try to stay one step ahead of the villains who are after him for unspecified trespasses against them. Naturally, he has told Glen nothing of this.
It leans heavily on Dyer’s persona – and he delivers in full. Sampson is good as Glen; you can see that, with Lee’s help, he is destined to rediscover the confidence he had before life and carpet-selling got to him. Mr Bigstuff is trying to say something about masculinity, although I am not sure what. I suspect the show doesn’t, either, judging by the amount of time Lee spends wearing a kimono over his underwear and narrowing his eyes at litterbugs; threatening waiters who dare to sit his brother on a bad table; and encouraging Glen to become his old “angry beaver” self. Big Boys should remain your go-to for insight on this topic, made funny and touching by the writing and the beautiful performances of the two leads.
Mr Bigstuff has some charm, much energy and a handful of decent lines each episode. But it leaves you wanting more – and not in a good way. This is Sampson’s writing debut; there is a strong sense that he has the goods, even if they are not quite translating to screen. Of course, your opinion about what Dyer brings to the project will align with your thoughts on what Dyer has brought to any of his projects. But he has the goods, too. Maybe next time it will be trotters up all round.