Our Seriencamp Festival program this year contains three TV-series in the "New Britain" genre. They are British series that delve into actual themes and present them in a new and unseen way. Loneliness, grief, and love - universal themes shown in a British way. Since Fleabag, Sex Education and The End Of The Fucking World we know, that British series have a uniquely cynical and yet loving and modern approach to those themes. In our program you find Rain Dogs (Sky/WOW), Significant Other (ITVX), and You & Me (ITV), our three New Britain TV-series. We had the opportunity to have an interview in advance with Alexander Lamb, the Executive Producer of You & Me. Find out if the series is more than just a typical boy-meets-girl story and whether Alexander thinks that Brits love differently.
Alexander Lamb:
You & Me is a romantic drama - a simple boy meets girl - on first look and it was designed to present like this. Audiences want familiarity so we were going to serve that. However, the story really is about grief and heartbreak and the question of whether once you've fallen in love and then lost that love, if you can ever learn to live again. The way we tell that story makes You & Me unique but also far more captivating than other traditional romantic dramas.
Further to that the way the series unfolds with different timelines - one now and one six years ago in Ben's case and one now and one a year ago in Emma's case - transforms the series into an investigation. The viewer is left guessing the gaps between the timelines which emulates almost a classic procedural detective plot. Detective drama is at its peak in the UK at the moment so telling a romantic story with a detective / thriller format felt both fresh and commercial.
Why did you choose the medium series to tell this story?
Alexander Lamb:
At Happy Prince we are big believers in serving the story of a series. If a story only requires a limited amount of episodes to play then that's what we would choose to do rather than stretching the story out. Arguably you can watch You & Me in one sitting like a long movie but we prefer the dramatic use of cliffhangers from episode to episode that builds anticipation and appetite for the next chapter of the story.
Grieving and experiencing love while grieving is a main theme in You & Me. What interests you in that?
Alexander Lamb:
You & Me is a contemporary drama rooted in the world we live in now. Whilst we were developing You & Me and working on the script with writer Jamie Davis and then the shoot with director Tom Vaughan, the UK was in and out of Covid lockdown. Grief was all around us. Literally for some who had lost people in the pandemic but also metaphorically as everybody grieved the lives we had pre-Covid and the freedom that was lost. It felt really pertinent to create a show about grief to appeal to the zeitgeist of the UK and the world. Also to show London as a beautiful sun-kissed world that we once had and longed to return to.
Do you think love, grief and big feelings are universal and will work on german screens just as good as on british or do british people love differently?
Alexander Lamb:
You & Me has massive universal appeal and we think will be enjoyed globally. Everyone loves a romance and even if the series contains a specific British flavor there should be something for everyone to connect to whether that be Ben or Emma's story or the viewpoints of Ben's mother Linda or Jess' parents. The themes of love and loss connect with everyone.
What happens for you after You & Me? Do you already work on a new project?
Alexander Lamb:
Happy Prince is a young but very busy company. We are planning series 2 of You & Me with Jamie but we also have a big new show in production for Disney based on the beloved Jilly Cooper novel 'Rivals' starring David Tennant, Aiden Turner and Danny Dyer. We are also working with playwright Kwame Kwei-Armah on a dramatization of the John and Justin Fashanu story. Further to that we have a yet to be announced projects with Netflix and ITVX. It is a very busy time for Happy Prince.
Thank you for the interview Alexander! We are looking forward to seeing You & Me on Seriencamp Festival 2023.