Eureka!: No Heroics (Tiger Aspect for ITV2)

No Heroics

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No Heroics writer Drew Pearce on taking comic-book characters down the pub.

Where did the idea come from?
I'm a lifelong comic geek. The idea was born before Heroes was on air and before the recent glut of superhero movies. Comic books have a rich history, but really the show is just about a group of mates and I took inspiration from when I was in a band. We got together and rehearsed for an hour, before spending the rest of the night in the pub getting pissed and bitching about NME reviewers and the industry.

How did the idea evolve from there?  
In a way the title is the show's mission statement, so it was quite easy really. I like to think of the show as what would happen in a superhero's life after he has had the big blockbuster £150m movie action adventure - sitting around with a group of friends, getting drunk, talking about their sex lives and insecurities.

How did you pitch it?
There's a one liner at the show's core - four off-duty superheroes in a pub. I was working with ITV2 controller Zai Bennett and executive producer Matthew Littleford at the time on Lip Service, which I must apologise for, because only about 10 people watched it, although it was pretty funny. I just mentioned it and they took it off the table pretty much on the basis of that one-liner. I went and wrote the first script, then we had a table read, made a pilot and I then wrote the series. It was straightforward, but it still took the best part of three years to complete.

What challenges has the show presented?
The biggest problem has been trying to avoid the pitfalls of previous superhero comedies. There have been quite a few of them and most eventually get sucked into this idea that superheroes are silly or camp.
This is a very dry, very British take on the genre. When we were filming, we pretty much had a big neon sign around saying "keep it mundane, keep it real" in our heads - these are superheroes off duty. The other major consideration was that ITV2 hadn't done a comedy before and Secret Diary of a Call Girl hadn't come out when we were making it, so the channel was yet to reposition itself.

What was your Eureka moment? Contact: robin.parker@emap.com