Waiting for the Out writer explains the show's take on masculinity as not being a "huge problem"
"We have got into a habit of, we can't see everyone's difficulties, we have to see one person's difficulty or the other. I think that's really negative."
New BBC drama Waiting for the Out has been written by Utopia and Pulling's Dennis Kelly, and is based on the memoir by Andy West, The Life Inside.
The six-part series follows Dan (played by Josh Finan) – a philosopher whose father, brother and uncle have all spent time in jail. When he starts teaching a class of men in prison, he starts to obsessively worry that he belongs behind bars too.
The series touches on a number of contemporary themes, with masculinity being at its centre. Speaking exclusively with RadioTimes.com, Kelly explained what he wanted to explore regarding masculinity, which has been touched on in many dramas of late.
"It's really hard talking about masculinity without getting sick of it," Kelly said. "Because everyone is talking about masculinity at the moment. And this thing about the difficulty for white working class men, but you know, it's actually really f**king hard for white working class women. And try being black and working class, you know what I mean?
"I think we have got into a habit of, we can't see everyone's difficulties, we have to see one person's difficulty or the other. I think that's really negative. I think I wanted to show – and I've got to be honest, I struggled to do this – I wanted to show different positive aspects of masculinity, because it felt like there's such a debate about it."
Kelly continued: "On one end, you get debates about toxic masculinity, on the other extreme, you get Andrew Tate or f**king Piers Morgan or f**king Bill Maher, people whinging. And I think neither of those things are right. You're male, you don't seem to fit into either of those to me, and I don't fit into either of those.
"There's a whole bunch of blokes that we're not f**king Tommy Robinson, or we're not scared of our masculinity. I just wanted to depict it in a way that isn't like it's a huge problem."
Kelly explained that he found doing this "kind of hard", because he ended up falling back on a topic he originally hadn't wanted to – fatherhood.
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"I thought f**king hell – I'm a dad to a six-year-old, and it's a really important part of my life, the most important part of my life," Kelly said. "But I wasn't always a dad. I've spent a lot of time not being a dad.
"And I think it's really f**king lame when the best you can come up with is, 'Yeah, be a good dad. Oh, men can be good dads. They can be protective and can be good dads.' You’ve gotta be more than that! So I didn't want to find easy answers, and I don't think I did, because I don't think there are any easy answers. But it was interesting to be able to look at that and find things within that."
Along with Finan, the series also stars Gerard Kearns, Stephen Wight, Phil Daniels and Samantha Spiro.
Waiting for the Out will premiere on Saturday 3rd January at 9:30pm on BBC One.
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Authors
James Hibbs is a Drama Writer for Radio Times, covering programmes across both streaming platforms and linear channels. He previously worked in PR, first for a B2B agency and subsequently for international TV production company Fremantle. He possesses a BA in English and Theatre Studies and an NCTJ Level 5 Diploma in Journalism.
