Comedy thriller The Outlaws soon returns to screens for a third series on BBC One and BBC iPlayer. With notorious crime boss The Dean now behind bars, the latest instalment sees ‘The Outlaws’ moving on with their lives – until one of their own returns with a deadly secret, hurling them back into mortal danger.

Ahead of the launch, Advanced-Television spoke with some of the cast at a screening event. Stephen Merchant, star and creator of the series, was joined by fellow cast members Rhianne Barreto, Gamba Cole Eleanor Tomlinson, Claire Perkins and Jessica Gunning (who was part of the writing team for the new season).

When quizzed on if a third series was easier to write – having been here twice already – Merchant enthusiastically replied: “Yes! You don’t have to set the world up for the audience. The audience have already bought into it, they know the premise, they know the stakes and they know the internal relationships. And the cast have obviously worked together and we know everyone’s strengths and dare I say weaknesses [he teasingly points at Tomlinson for huge laughs] –  and so you can cater it more to the cast and the vibe of the show”.

“What we tried to do with each series was to dial up the tension, the drama, and hopefully the humour. In this instance, in the new series, the tension and the drama that the characters face is turned right up,” Merchant continued. “Also, we get to continue to explore these characters. I love spending time with them, writing them, seeing the actors bring them to life. So, we get to explore their private lives and how that intersects with this bigger crime story brewing around them”.

The series is largely filmed in Bristol, Merchant’s home city. 

Commenting on the fact, Merchant said: “One of the great things about filming The Outlaws is the community spirit, it’s like a family that moves around the town. It’s just a real pleasure to be in the city I was born in. The weather was good, and it’s just the kind of lovely experience of making the show I dreamed of. The dream was always to come back to my hometown, and see people I knew, my family, introduce actors who hadn’t worked here before to the town and make that feel part of the show […] The show is very much a love letter to Bristol. I love the fact we get to feature different pockets of the city, and in the instance of series three, we are in a city farm. I love showcasing the city. It’s very visual, it’s full of street art, and it’s very hilly which adds interesting depths to the show. Also, the people of Bristol are very welcoming to us. I like the idea of making it another character in the show. In this show it gets to play itself.”

“But, I still haven’t got a statue [in Bristol],” joked Merchant. “I can only assume that’s because it would need a lot of iron.” 

Echoing that sentiment, Cole said: “We really wanted to make sure we showcased Bristol in every light. I think we’ve done a good job of that. When people approach me when I’m out and about, they talk about how much they love the show, and they always mention the roads that they recognise, the buildings they recognise, the art on the walls that they love. I think that’s really nice, because we wanted to make sure that the whole of Bristol felt a part of this story, it didn’t belong to the Outlaws, it belongs to Bristol”.

Tomlinson expressed her joy in working with the cast again, commenting: “It’s been so nice to have everybody back together again. I think it’s been two years between series two and three, but it’s just amazing that the show was so popular and we’ve all come back together. […] Stephen has just been a real treat and the same with Jess Gunning (Diane), I just adore them, it’s been fantastic”.

“Gabby is a real hoot to play,” said Tomlinson. “She’s always on her own journey and totally unaware of what’s going on around her […], too bust talking about her ovaries and everything. It’s really fun and I really love the writing. Now [Gabby] is sober, she’s lost some of this rage but she still have so many issues […] She’s decided that she wants to have a baby, and this series for her is mainly about how that happens. She’s got a new girlfriend, but is she the one she wants to have a baby with? And who’s going to be the father?”

Gunning, recently riding a wave of fame from her role im Netflix drama Baby Reindeer, commented: “It’s been lovely all being back together, and I felt very lucky that I was in the writers’ room this time as I co-wrote an episode with Stephen, episode five. It’s been really exciting to be a part of helping draft the storyline for series three and get to know the characters more than I did before”. 

Expanding on her writing role, Gunning added: “I feel really lucky to have been asked into the writers’ room. Occasionally on series one and two, me and Stephen would ad-lib little bits, or John Butler and I would come up with little alternative lines here and there for Diane, so I was always really involved and liked watching how it was done, and I think Stephen recognised that and asked would I like to join the writers’ room. I’ve learnt so much from him and all of the writers, and it was a real honour to see it all come to life”.

“We sort of had this fanciful idea that we’d do two series and maybe a movie,” mused Merchant. “And then we’d do a story about a new set of Outlaws in another town. But this group of people are so good and the characters are so good and have been brought to life in such a vivid way, that the thought of writing more for them was really exciting. [These characters] are up and running and you know what [the cast] can do with it, and giving them new energies to play with, whether it’s giving a new romance to Claire so that she’s now like a 16 year old girl all of a sudden and you’re seeing a new dimension of her; and Eleanor’s character, having sobered up, then what does she do with the next part of her life? And Rhianne starting off a like a girl next door and now she’s like Scarface. That’s the thrill of it!”

“Previously I’ve ended shows thinking we don’t want to outstay our welcome, but actually, coming back, it’s a thrill – and now I would have never cancelled those other shows so early, I would have kept them going,” concluded Merchant.

Series 3 premieres on BBC1 and iPlayer on May 30th.

(This article combines quotes from a Covent Garden Hotel interview on May 20th, with excerpts from a BBC interview transcript published on May 21st.)

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Tags: BBC iPlayer, bbc1, stephen merchant, the outlaws