The adjustment from living at home to moving to university is often jarring, isolating and uncertain. With it can come a tendency to compare our own states to our mind’s idealised image of student life which is created and continuously reinforced by the media. This explains why many of us will take to comfort watching while we try to settle in an unfamiliar environment. Watching film or TV reassuringly familiar to us makes us feel closer to home – it is grounding to re-experience stories when we know how they play out. Big Boys has all the comfort to new or returning students of a familiar series– not to say it is predictable, but because of how successfully it is executed.
Big Boys is a semi-autobiographical comedy written and created by Jack Rooke. The friendship between the fictionalised version of his awkward, closeted younger self (Derry Girls’ Dylan Llewellyn) and the laddish Danny (Jon Pointing) forms the heart of the story, which is anchored by Rooke’s tongue-in-cheek narration. The routine obstacles Jack and Danny’s face in their entry to Brent University eases the viewer, a reassuring confirmation that it comes with none of the hedonistic bravado of Skins or Euphoria. Thrust together by an admin error as lone flatmates in a blue ‘shed’ away from the beckoning student flats, Jack struggles with his life moving forwards without his late father; the feeling of isolation common in first year is amplified as Danny begins his university life at twenty-five and his anxious determination to live life to the full – by the means of freshers flat parties – is initially squandered as he (and Jack) aren’t allowed in halls. Also, Jack and Danny represent two opposing ends of a spectrum: those who struggle away from family and might call home several times a week (or day), and those who see uni as an opportunity to create a new home for themselves and may barely speak to families until term time forces them back.
Rooke makes clear from the beginning that Big Boys has no room for taboo surrounding men’s mental health. He introduces these themes early and frankly, though not without humour – within the first five minutes of Episode 1 Jack is shown having a panic attack while his mum soothingly reads the TV guide. H
owever, Danny’s character takes the forefront in exploring mental health. Armoured with endearing bravado and humour, he shields anxieties about his carer nan’s declining health, a depression diagnosis and SSRI-induced impotence. Shame surrounding his depression are at the core of his inner conflict and we witness how it expands outwards and impacts his relationships and academic life. Rooke’s lighthearted narration is punctured by deep tenderness as he often speaks directly to Danny in past tense, addressing him as ‘you’. This feeling is likely so palpable because Danny is based on four of his friends, one of whom died in the years after graduation.
Despite the serious topics explored throughout the series, Big Boys is balanced by comedy and affection for student life. Through the presentation of Jack and Danny’s friendship with each otherand supporting characters Corinne and Yemi, viewers are assured that that there is plenty to be excited about – birthday parties, poppers, sexual health art projects, friend holidays to Greece, to name a few. Additionally, their close-knit circle is a refreshing presentation of university friendships. Many students expect to click immediately with a large network of people and find themselves feeling inadequate if this is not the reality. Therefore, Big Boys simultaneously elevates the most mundane parts of university life and eases what can become a persistent sense of life happening just out of our reach.
If you are struggling with your mental health, you can seek urgent help from Samaritans 24 hours a day at 116 123 or reach out to Mind’s support line on 0300 102 1234 (9am to 6pm, Mon to Fri excluding bank holidays).
Season 1 is available on Netflix and Seasons 1-3 are all available on Channel 4.
