People Just Do Nothing creators tease potential return for Kurupt FM characters

The creators of People Just Do Nothing have addressed the possibility of their Kurupt FM characters returning in a "new format".

The hit BBC series, which originally ran from 2014 to 2018, follows a group of amateur garage artists – led by the comically self-aggrandising MC Grindah (Allan 'Seapa' Mustafa) – running a pirate radio station out of west London.

Co-creators Steve Stamp and Asim Chaudhry, who devised the show alongside Mustafa and Hugo Chegwin, spoke to Radio Times as People Just Do Nothing was shortlisted in our greatest modern British comedy poll (voting is open now, until 24 March).

Chaudhry attributed the show's resonance to its "conventional sitcom characters," who were instantly recognisable to all viewers regardless of their familiarity with garage music – and teased that they could live on in future projects.

"The show has finished," said Chaudhry. "But I think, if the idea is strong enough, then the characters can return."

Stamp echoed that opinion, revealing that the creators have "talked about a few different ideas" for reusing their Kurupt FM personas, but they want to avoid anything that could be perceived as "lazy".

"It feels like there's a standard that we have to uphold for our fans," he explained. "We've done the big goodbye [in season 5], and then we've done the film [2021's Big in Japan].

"There was a sort of emotional ending to that, so we didn't want to immediately come back and start doing more stuff, because that feels like we're not staying true to the story."

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Of course, the team has previously experimented with bringing their Kurupt FM characters into other mediums, such as 2022's live tour and a three-season Audible podcast – and it seems likely that won't be the end of it.

"There's definitely life in all of the characters," concluded Stamp. "It's just choosing the right way to continue the legacy or to expand the world."

One thing is for sure, Chaudhry won't be disowning his People Just Do Nothing character Chabuddy G – a Del Boy-esque "deluded" entrepreneur – whose body of work includes a self-help book and a stint on Love Island (via Red Nose Day).

"If you get one character in your whole life as an actor that sticks and people call you that on the street – even though it might get annoying – at the same time, it's a great honour," added Chaudhry.

"You've created a character that's memorable to a point where a lot of people can't see you as anything else... I'd rather have that than struggle my whole life, because I think the hardest things to create in comedy are memorable characters."

You can get more advice from Chaudhry and other British comedy stars in our brand new feature on how to write a hit sitcom.

People Just Do Nothing is available to stream on BBC iPlayer.

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