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On Netflix’s seemingly never-ending homepage, under one or more of the quirky category titles, you might stumble across a show called “Pompidou.” Nestled within “Kids” or “British TV” or even “New Releases,” there sits the story of an aristocrat gone broke who lives in a trailer in front of his old estate with his butler and his dog. You’d be able to deduce all this only from the provided description, however, because “Pompidou” isn’t told in any language familiar to mankind.
Created by Matt Lucas — of “Little Britain,” “Alice in Wonderland” and “Bridesmaids” fame — the Netflix and BBC One co-production of “Pompidou” sets out in the spirit of silent comedy classics. While not sonically absent, the dialogue featured in the six-episode first season is a mess of gobbledy-gook with only a random English word or two thrown in at inexplicable instants. It’s Lucas’ attempt to honor Charlie Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy and Mr. Bean in a new age of television.
Speaking to a gaggle of reporters at a Netflix press junket in April, Lucas discussed how he came up with the unique concept, the critics who claim the series is “the definition of what they don’t want to watch on TV” and why he wanted to make a show for the whole family after years of “filthy” stand-up performances.
So what do your scripts actually look like?
I feel like I should publish the scripts because a lot of people ask what the scripts look like. They’re 20 pages of dense prose, actually. I think the show is like a live action cartoon, so I think the scripts probably resemble that. The only words are just a very occasional “naughty, naughty” and “no, no,” but they’re prose scripts, really.
Pompidou was one of the many characters we were developing, but he was just always the most fun to write. He had the most to say, and he had the richest life. The show kind of morphed effectively into a sitcom about that character. I actually haven’t seen “Downton Abbey,” but when you watch it and you watch other sort of things about the royals, you see about the aristocracy and how wealthy they are. But actually, there’s a lot of people who have inherited these mansions, these stately homes, who were born into it from generations and generations, and it’s not socially acceptable to sell these homes. All the homes are in trust, so it’s not their right to sell the homes. There’s no actual way of maintaining them because there’s now such a thing as a middle class.
Years ago, when there was just the upper classes and the lower classes, you’d just have a lot of cheap labor. You’d have hundreds of staff at your house, and you’d be able to live in this big house. Now, it’s not possible. There are a lot of people in Britain who have these incredible properties and they live in one freezing corner of the property. They look grand on the outside but inside they’re crumbling because they’ve got hundreds of acres of land. We thought it was an interesting starting point to look at those people because not much has been done about them.
And the idea of the fall — Pompidou once living in that mansion that looks beautiful and during the credits you see it crumbling. Now he’s living in this trailer, which is a composite of two or three different trailers stuck together. We thought, wow, things are very humble for him now. It just felt fun. And then they haven’t got a pot to piss in, to use a British phrase. […] The themes of this show are hunger one episode, another episode is looking for love, another episode it’s freezing cold and trying to keep warm. These are very basic human problems and challenges, really. It’s been an interesting experience. I think the audience in Britain expected something very different, so it polarized. For some people, it is the definition of what they don’t want to watch on TV.
The one thing that did happen was that we did this show that became really big called “Little Britain,” and we didn’t expect it to become big. You could go one of two ways. You can say, “Okay, I’m now big, so the things I do have to be big. I’m going to be a big shot. How could I be bigger? How could I do more?” And that’s what a lot of people do, and I respect that, but that’s just not me. I just do what I want to do. I live a bit more frugally as a consequence, but I’m very happy to do that. “Pompidou” is really the show that I always wanted to make, and I’m pleased with how it came out. I look at it and I go, “Okay, I would’ve done that differently.” Hopefully I will get the chance to do some more or the character will live on in some form. I think it is different from the other stuff I’ve done. It isn’t just a repeat. Hopefully, people will like it.
In terms of influences for “Pompidou,” there was some influences in like Laurel and Hardy, Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Rowan Atkinson, obviously, who’s the king of that kind of comedy. Also “Pingu,” which is this animated show which is possibly on Netflix, as well. [Editor’s note: It’s not.] It’s my favorite TV show. They speak in gibberish in that, and I’ve always said this was a live action “Pingu,” basically. “Tom and Jerry” cartoons, the way the adults speak in “Peanuts,” that kind of weird muffled voice. Intonation is everything. I’ve watched “Little Britain” translated into other countries, Japanese and German, and understood enough. Also, I think “Pompidou” is like when you go and watch Shakespeare. You don’t know what they’re saying but you get the sense of it, don’t you? Maybe I’m speaking for myself. Maybe you’re all scholars.
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