Liam Williams - Ladhood
Liam Williams - Ladhood

Liam Williams - Ladhood

  • Radio sitcom / comedy drama
  • BBC Radio 4
  • 2015 - 2017
  • 8 episodes (2 series)

Liam Williams recounts his youthful misadventures in this autobiographical Radio 4 sitcom. Also features Alfie Field, Paul Copley, Sally Grace, Kieran Hodgson, Freya Parker and more.

Liam Williams interview

Liam Williams. Copyright: Sun Lee

Liam Williams is back with a second series of his Radio 4 series. Let's catch up with him...

Hi Liam. We're three quarters of the way through the year. How has 2017 been for you so far?

Not too bad really. Just got back from three months' travelling in Europe. I even wrote a blog about it

Series 2 of your Radio 4 show is coming up. What is Ladhood about?

In Series 1, I recounted my teenage misadventures. I like to think of it as a blend of the aesthetics of Shane Meadows and Cider With Rosie. And, to be honest, The Inbetweeners.

This time the stories are based on my university years, so The Inbetweeners element has been supplanted by, I don't know, Fresh Meat?

How much truth is there in the stories you tell on the show?

Probably about 65% true. There's a joke in the new series along the lines of: I use as much artistic license as is necessary to make the stories legally and comedically broadcastable. There you go - a sample joke for you there.

You talk about your friends and family in the show... do you run things past them first?

No. The characters are not really based on specific individuals. More loose hybrids of various people I've encountered. At least that's what I tell people.

You discuss prejudice towards the North in the first episode of the new series - particularly focusing on how you were viewed by other students when you arrived at Cambridge University. Do you think things have got better in recent years, or is such prejudice still prevalent?

I'm aware that, of all the forms of prejudice that are rife in Britain today, that which is directed towards northerners at southern universities is nowhere near the most heinous, but there is still a significant socio-economic divide between the South East and everywhere else in the UK.

Brexit has brought that back to the fore. It becomes a more incidental theme in Ladhood Series 2, as the episodes progress and the character becomes more comfortable in his new bastion of privilege.

Liam Williams - Ladhood. Copyright: BBC

Series 1 on BBC Radio Player was accompanied by a great picture of you as a teenager. What do you think when you look back at that image now?

I think: I wish I could still pull off that look.

If you could go back in time to talk to your teenage self, what would you tell yourself?

Perhaps don't smoke quite so much weed.

And if you could be visited now by an 80 year-old time travelling version of you, what would you hope to hear yourself say?

The BBC still exists and it just commissioned Ladhood Series 50.

What's next for you after this radio series Liam? Any news of a Series 2 for Pls Like?

Good question. There have been gestures towards there being more Pls Like but I can't be any less gnomic than that at this stage.

Otherwise, one or two other TV projects in early stage development. I'm very slowly getting a novel written. Might go traveling again. We'll see.

Published: Tuesday 26th September 2017

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