Only when absolutely badgered will Lenny Rush admit that the title role of The Reluctant Vampire, Val, was written for him: “Shane Allen, the executive producer, loved the books when he was young, and he was the exec on Am I Being Unreasonable?. So yes, the scripts were written with me in mind. I’m so happy they were so good.
I’d have felt awful if they said ‘We’ve written this for you’ and …” he trails off, pulling a face of exquisite pained courtesy. Rush likens the show to The Naked Gun and Airplane!, and it has the writing team behind Alan Partridge, so can conjure awkwardness out of thin air. But it also taps into a comic tradition that goes even further back: a delight in the ridiculous, people talking to bats and gargoyles, invisible women interjecting by surprise, a surrealism whose comedy comes from the audacity of acting it with such commitment.
I really do get the feeling that The Reluctant Vampire is for everyone.” The Reluctant Vampire was written in the 80s by Eric Morecambe, in a surprising digression into children’s fiction from the comedy giant. It’s about the young scion of a bloodsucking household who doesn’t have any skills: his teeth aren’t pointy, he hates the taste of blood, and it transpires that he’s not a vampire at all but a rogue human. In the hands of Neil and Rob Gibbons, it’s like watching the essence of British comic sensibility – slapstick shot through with genuine pathos.
Still only 17, Rush has been a fixture on TV for many years, starting aged seven in CBeebies documentary series Our Family. Then, aged eight in Apple Tree House on CBeebies he played Eli, a young rascal on an estate of well-intentioned young rascals. If you have children this age, you’ll feel like you’ve known him for ever, and if you are watching the latest season of Slow Horses, you’ll know him as the foul-mouthed, ancient-beyond-his-years kid whose steel trap of a mind effortlessly vanquishes the spies.
But his breakthrough role was in Am I Being Unreasonable?, for which he won a Bafta at 14 for best male performance in a comedy – and he was nominated again for the same award this year. That role, Ollie, along with his magisterial Bafta acceptance speech, sealed his reputation as a guy who has hacked your mainframe, and could effortlessly make you laugh at any time. You can see in Rush’s performance as Val how much he’s gorged on Mr Bean, Alan Partridge, Monty Python.
Never mind the age-appropriateness, how he found the time is anyone’s guess, since he has spent so long watching the British version of The Office that he knows it episode by episode, and has been working – as well as going to school – since he was seven. David Brent has always been his inspiration, and he delivers the kindest reading of that character I’ve ever heard. He just wants to be part of the gang.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
