Harry and Jack Williams on The Missing, Fleabag and The Assassin: The Radio Times Writers' Room

Having originally started out in comedy, the Williams brothers pivoted to thrillers with their hit show The Missing, which starred Tchéky Karyo and ran for two seasons before being followed up by spin-off series Baptiste.

Since then, they have been behind BBC shows such as Rellik, One of Us, The Tourist and Boat Story, as well as ITV productions The Widow, Liar and Angela Black.

Through Two Brothers Pictures, they have also been executive producers on series including Back to Life and Dinosaur, plus Phoebe Waller-Bridge's international mega-hit Fleabag.

Now, they are back with a new thriller for Prime Video called The Assassin, which stars Keeley Hawes and Freddie Highmore as an estranged mother and son, Julie and Edward.

As the series kicks off, their family reunion on a Greek island is cut short, because what Edward doesn't realise is that his mother is actually a retired assassin - and now, her past is coming back to haunt her.

Throughout our chat, the Williams brothers spoke about some of what they learned during their early years writing comedy and how they approach their working relationship on top of their fraternal one.

They also shared anecdotes about their experiences over the years, including the hilarious note they kept getting while they were working on Fleabag and some blistering feedback they got from Dawn French at the start of their careers.

"I wrote a sitcom for the BBC and Dawn French was attached. And she said, 'It needs to be funnier,' and I went, 'Oh, great, I know who’s funny - this guy,'" Jack said, pointing at Harry.

"So I got him involved, we wrote the script, they brought it back to us, sat down, she said: 'I've got one word advice for you. Never work with your brother again.'"

Jack continued: "We weren't deterred by Dawn French or the poor performance of our first sitcom, and we persisted despite massive indifference, in the face of everyone going, 'Why do you do this?' So, yeah, you may wonder why - I don't know why. But here we are."

You can watch the full video at the top of this article right now, and look out for more trips to The Radio Times Writers' Room soon.

Next time, we will be chatting with Noah Hawley, the writer behind Fargo and Legion. He will be talking to us all about his new addition to the Alien franchise, Disney+ show Alien: Earth - don't miss it!

The Assassin will premiere on Prime Video on Friday 25th July – you can sign up now for a free 30-day Prime Video trial.

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