There She Goes creator explains family cameo in special episode
Shaun Pye tells the story behind that emotional final scene.
The creator of moving BBC Two comedy-drama There She Goes has explained how they pulled off his family's cameo in tonight's one-off special.
Inspired by true events, David Tennant and Jessica Hynes star as parents caring for a daughter with an extremely rare chromosomal disorder, which went undiagnosed by medical professionals for more than a decade.
The idea for this special came about after creator Shaun Pye and co-writer Sarah Crawford finally learned that their daughter's condition is DYRK1A syndrome, with the fictional Yates family going on a similar journey in the new episode.
Of course, raising Rosie (Miley Locke) remains a challenge, but a diagnosis allows parents Simon (Tennant) and Emily (Hynes) to access a support network of people in the same situation.
In the final scene of the There She Goes special, the Pye family – including daughter Joey, who Rosie is based on – make a cameo appearance and meet their fictional counterparts.
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Pye explained: "I wanted Rosie to meet someone with DYRK1A syndrome and there aren’t very many of them. We talked about it and we wanted it to be authentic and the obvious person was [real-life daughter] Joey."
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However, the screenwriter went on to say that he was unsure if the idea would work in practice, as Joey's behaviour is often difficult to anticipate.
"To be honest, we didn't know how it was gonna go on the day," he continued. "We said to Tom [McKay, director], we've probably got two shots at this maybe, because she’s not gonna play ball. And so we sort of decided, whatever happens, happens.
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"And as it happened, she touches [Rosie's] chest – it makes me cry every time – and then they run off. Basically, we said Joey writes the final scene. Whatever Joey wants to do, that's what's going to be at the end."
Pye added: "I never ever had any doubt that David and Jess and Miley and Edan [Hayhurst] would nail it. But Joey was the unpredictable one… the way that it turned out, I was very happy."
The special has a sense of finality about it, with Pye saying he would be content if this was the last episode, but clarified that the show could return if there are more real-life developments to draw on.
"This show has never been driven by the idea [of], ‘Why don't we make a TV show? Where could it go? How many series could we get?’ It's always been led by the [true] stories," he concluded.
"We've only done this because there was a story to tell. If there are more stories to tell, maybe. I love this ending. I think if it ends here, then it ends here, and I hope that we've done a good job. But it's always story-led.
"We'd never ever sit down and go, ‘How can we eke out all of this?’"
There She Goes is available to stream on BBC iPlayer. Check out more of our Comedy coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on.
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