Jack Rooke | Writer/Executive Producer

Jack Rooke | Writer/Executive Producer

Although he earned his place on BAFTA Breakthrough for writing and executive producing Channel 4’s hit comedy Big Boys (2022), Jack Rooke says he’s actually done a little bit of everything across his career. He started out compering poetry and spoken word nights in the upstairs rooms of pubs, before performing stand-up himself and then taking his shows, which he produced, promoted, wrote and performed, to the Edinburgh Fringe. Success followed, catapulting this Jack-of-all-trades from relative unknown in 2015 to award-winning writer and performer, published author, presenter of provocative factual television, national radio expert in bereavement and mental health and showrunner of his own comedy series (which he also narrates) in 2022. Next year, he will make his feature film acting debut, too.

In their own words:

“I really have done a bit of everything. From poetry in pubs to comedy in fringe theatres around the country to doing my first show in Edinburgh... It’s a great place if you can afford to go. You can go from unknown to all of a sudden having really exciting opportunities land in your lap...

“[My dad] made me love comedy. We were always trying to watch stand up together and sitcoms... Everything I wrote at the start of my career was about losing him at 15, my experience as a teenager and my family’s experiences. I thought I could make that funny. I could make that darkness humorous and use comedy to break down the awkwardness of talking about grief and death... If you can get lots of different people laughing at the same thing, I think that’s the best skill. And the hardest. As a writer and creator, that’s what I’m trying to hone...

“I would like to use BAFTA Breakthrough to broaden out what I could do outside of Big Boys. I’d love to make a documentary one day... I would also love to present. I’ve presented a documentary and done two Radio 4 specials, which I loved. It makes me sound quite creatively greedy, but I think it’s just because I’m immensely indecisive.”

Jack’s Breakthrough credit is television series Big Boys

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