There is an exciting brand new horror/comedy series called CRAZYHEAD, starting tonight (Weds 19th Oct) at 9pm on E4, so we thought it might be a good idea to give you a quick rundown of what to expect.
What is CRAZYHEAD?
Crazyhead is a brand new comedy horror series about love, friendship and facing your demons.
When people die most go quietly into the night. But some have unfinished business: scores to settle, blood to spill, axes to plant in people’s heads… These tormented souls work through their issues by possessing the living. Most of the time they walk freely amongst us, unseen by all but a special few.
Amy is one of those few. She works in a bowling alley and never really imagined herself battling the legions of hell. It can play havoc with a girl’s love life. Not to mention her mind. Thankfully Amy isn’t alone. Enter Raquel. Armed with Wikipedia and a baton she bought on e-bay, Raquel’s a self-made demon hunter with a whole lot of baggage and an impressive lack of social skills.
An unlikely friendship is born as Amy and Raquel attempt to navigate their way through the choppy waters of their early twenties whilst simultaneously kicking the ass of some seriously gnarly demons. What could possibly go wrong?
Who is in it?
The two main leads are Downton Abbey’s Cara Theobold, who plays Amy, and Chewing Gum’s Susan Wokoma who plays Raquel. They are joined by Riann Steele (In the Flesh, Holby City) & Lewis Reeves (Unforgotten, Uncle) who play Amy’s best friends Suzanne & Jake, and Tony Curran (Defiance, 24, This Life), who plays the demon Callum.
About Raquel (Susan Wokoma)
“Raquel has been hunting demons since she was about 14,” says Wokoma. “She’s been doing this on her own so is a bit of a lone-ranger and socially quite awkward. The problem with being one of the few people who can see demons is that everyone else thinks that there is something wrong with you. So she doesn’t know how to hang out with people her own age, she doesn’t have any friends. But she’s very brave, very kick-ass, very funny – and she’s very excited when she meets Amy because she has a partner in crime, but also a potential friend.”
About Amy (Cara Theobold)
Amy, her partner in kicking demon ass, is rather less experienced in demon hunting… “When we first meet Amy she’s stuck in a bit of a rut,” says Theobold. “She’s working at a bowling alley, she’s not particularly fulfilled but is kind of ok with that. She’s living in the safety of not taking any risks in life and relying on her best friend Suzanne, who she lives with and who looks after her. When the main action starts and she’s forced to fight and make decision and be brave, she finally comes into her own and finds out just how strong she is. She does things she never dreamt she would ever do. It’s been great to play a character who goes from such extremes. Also the partnership and the making of the team of Amy and Raquel is integral to this story because both characters go on a journey and find the other side of themselves. Susie (Wokoma) and I had a really great time taking these two girls through it. The story goes to places a normal domestic drama doesn’t go to, so much happens in one episode, and I don’t think I’ve ever done a job where you can really go to the extremes of the characters like that.”
About Jake (Lewis Reeves)
“Jake is Amy’s best friend and works with her, but is secretly in love with her,” says Lewis Reeves. “He’s gullible enough to go along and drive them around on these crazy missions and doesn’t realise what he’s getting involved in until it’s too late. He kind of jokey with her, he jokes about everything, so from Amy’s perspective she never takes him seriously. He chucks the offers out there but it’s never full-hearted. Maybe if he jumped both feet in she’d take him more seriously. But he doesn’t. He has this big hope but maybe deep down he feels that Amy’s too good for him. To him Amy’s the perfect girl, but maybe she’s unattainable. But he keeps the faith and keeps plugging away.”
About Callum (Tony Curran)
Callum is demon – he’s one of the head demons – and it may seem like he’s the top of the pile on earth but in the pecking order of the demonic world he’s nowhere near the top. “I always saw him as a sort of promoter,” says actor Tony Curran. “Like he was trying to get this act on at some huge event like Burning Man or Glastonbury, and the act was opening the gates of hell. I found him quite endearing in that sense.” As endearing as he may find him, he is also a bad guy, albeit one in a relationship with single mum demon Mercy. “He’s obviously a badass but there’s also little moments where he ends up being quite sensitive,” Curran continues “The relationship between Callum and Mercy is almost like an estranged married couple – she puts him in his place. Callum can be a nasty piece of work, but there’s an absurdness to the violence, a satirical side to the whole piece. He has to pose as a psychiatrist and I don’t think he’s a terribly good actor, he can’t help but let things slip. When Raquel is telling him things about her life he doesn’t always agree with what she’s saying because it’s counterproductive to what he’s trying to achieve, and little glimmers of his demon character come out.”
Who’s Behind The Scenes?
Crazyhead has been created and written by BAFTA-winning Misfits creator Howard Overman, and is produced by Urban Myth Films for Channel 4 in association with Netflix.
Much like with Misfits, Overman says that the idea of taking something crazy and extreme, but making it feel weirdly grounded and real was something that really appealed to him. “I think that’s the trick in a way,” he comments, “making the genre stuff happen in a space where people can connect with it. I always try and write stuff that speaks to people who don’t necessarily always watch genre shows, there’s other things like life and relationships and finding yourself in there. I suppose the shows I enjoy have the element of suspension of disbelief but you feel like this could be happening in the room next to you. It goes back to something like Shaun of the Dead, which made a zombie apocalypse feel grounded and real, and based in a reality you recognize.”
Where Can I Watch Crazyhead?
If you’re in the UK, Crazyhead starts tonight (Weds 19th Oct) at 9pm on E4. If you’re outside the UK, you’ll have to wait a little longer for it to show up on Netflix, who are streaming the series globally following E4’s UK premiere.
