Bookish legend's role in acclaimed BBC comedy's second season left creator "shocked"

Of course, that's rather an oversimplification, with Juice being well known for its surreal comedy, involving ingenious set design and staging that separates it from anything that's come before.

Despite the show's strong reputation, Rizwan shared at the season 2 launch screening that he was "shocked" to see comedy veterans Mark Gatiss (Bookish) and Kevin Eldon (Sanditon) join the cast.

"Kevin is one of my ultimate all-time comedy heroes," began Rizwan. "I've never told [him] that because I didn't want to put [him] on a pedestal at work.

"Kevin and Mark Gatiss... I was shocked that you lot said yes, because they've done everything," he continued.

The former Taskmaster contestant went on to profess his love of Eldon's short-lived BBC Two sketch show It's Kevin; the actor's genre credits also include collaborations with Steve Coogan, Chris Morris, Stewart Lee and Julia Davis, among others.

Juice sees Eldon step into the role of a mysterious shop owner known as Mr Majal, who offers Jamma the chance at a radically new life that could help heal the rift between himself and Guy – but not without a cost.

Rizwan said it was "amazing" to see Eldon make the character his own.

"He was like, 'No, I don't think that's the accent, actually, maybe I should do that'. I was literally, like, in real time... watching [Kevin] find who this guy was," he explained. "We shoot so quick... [he] had to come in, do it in a week, and go.

"It was so cool to watch; my inner comedy fan was just freaking out."

Gatiss has a guest role in a later episode of the second season, which we won't spoil here, but its horror elements should play well with fans of the League of Gentlemen alum.

Viewers of the first season will note that Juice's eccentricities have been dialled up to 11 for this follow-up, with Rizwan explaining that he and his collaborators decided to focus on the "surreal stuff" that they "loved" the most.

"The problem is, it's expensive and there's not a template of doing it," he continued. "Production can't go, 'Yeah, we did that on that show, so we'll do it again – we know the person to hire, we know the infrastructure you need'.

"You kind of have to reinvent the wheel, because I'm asking people to do stuff that is not a thing in British comedy budgets. So it's really hard, but it's worth it. And those are the bits people remember."

Rizwan added: "Those are the bits the crew and the production remember being really excited by as well."

Juice also stars Rizwan's real-life brother Nabhaan (Kaos) and mother Shahnaz, in addition to Jeff Mirza (Polite Society) and Emily Lloyd-Saini (Code 404).

Juice seasons 1-2 are available to stream on BBC iPlayer.

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