Here We Go’s Jim Howick: ‘I’m the butt of the joke – a walking indignity’

The ‘Peep Show’ and ‘Ghosts’ star talks to Ellie Harrison about the festive special of ‘Here We Go’, his career in British comedy and why the BBC is worth fighting for

Jim Howick: ‘I read the scripts with a sense of dread’ (Shutterstock for Channel Four)

Am I, like, nude in it, at any point?” Jim Howick asks, with a wince. The actor is referring to the festive special of the joyous family sitcom Here We Go, which he won’t see until it’s broadcast to the nation on BBC One, in a primetime slot, on New Year’s Eve. I can confirm that there’s a flash of torso, in a blink-of-an-eye shot of him in his swimming trunks.

“Oh yes, I’ve got a boil on my face and I’m in a sauna. Great.” He lets out a pained chuckle. “Here We Go has one of those scripts that genuinely makes you laugh out loud, but you do read it with a sense of dread. I’m always thinking, what’s going to happen? Usually I’m the butt end of the joke. Being thrown in a lake or something. I’m a walking indignity.”

Here We Go, created by The Ballad of Wallis Island’s Tom Basden, has quietly become one of the funniest shows on British television since it began in 2020. With three seasons now in the bag, the Jessops, the suburban Bedford family at its centre, have more or less become quirky distant relatives to those who know and love the comedy. Howick plays Paul, the dad who takes everything far too seriously, from his almost-Olympic-glory in archery to this New Year’s Eve “fireworks fantasaganza”. Also among the Jessop clan is Alison Steadman’s Sue – Paul’s mum, a scouser and a chronic feeder. And Katherine Parkinson’s Rachel, Paul’s wife, who loves her husband dearly but suffers from near-constant ick whenever she’s in his presence.

“It really feels like the Jessops now, after series three, are a welcome part of the comedy landscape,” says Howick. “We know them as a family, we know how they’re going to react to certain things, and I think that’s when shows become a comfort.”

Howick is chatting to me from the kitchen in his north London home on a chilly mid-December day. His beard looks warm, like a snood. Behind him is a fridge plastered with magnets from his travels over the years. In front of him is a load of parcels that have been delivered in time for Christmas. He is exuberant company – but, I must add, not too exuberant. He requests that I don’t pepper his quotes with excessive exclamation marks, admitting it’s a bugbear of his. “There are always loads of exclamation marks in my interviews,” he says, both amused and slightly cringing. “And I read it and I’m like, I wasn’t that excited.”

You’d forgive Howick, 46, for being a little excitable though. He’s been part of some of most successful British comedies of recent years – from Peep Show (as David Mitchell’s romantic rival Gerard) to Horrible Histories (playing everyone from “Naughty Napoleon” to Richard III), Sex Education (an awkward science teacher) and Ghosts (both a star and co-creator). Now he can add Here We Go, which is heading into a fourth season, to the list.

Howick puts Here We Go’s success partly down to the fact that it’s been given time to grow and breathe, and partly to how it brings families together in front of the TV. “Parents used to say to me, ‘Ghosts is the only thing that gets my teenage son out of his bedroom,’ and I’m finding a similar reaction to Here We Go,” he says. “I’m lucky enough to have been involved in these comedies that have this cross-generational appeal.”

Ringing in the new year: Howick and the cast of ‘Here We Go’ (BBC Studios/Gary Moyes)

The show’s format is also a winner. While the golden rule of screen acting for many performers is never to look directly into the camera, Howick – via Peep Show or Horrible Histories – has made a career out of doing the opposite. Here We Go requires a similar technique. All the events of the sitcom are seen through a video camera belonging to the Jessops’ son, Sam, meaning Howick and co will shoot a glance to the fourth wall when they want to emphasise a punchline, or turn a subtle joke into something, well, not so subtle. “A lot of successful comedies do it – This Country, The Office. God bless Rob Reiner, I first saw it in Spinal Tap and it’s such a useful comedy tool, having the audience on top of you like that. It allows them to feel like they’re in the room with you, part of the fun, and you’re talking directly to them.”

So many of Howick’s career highs have been on the BBC that it’s no wonder that, on the day we talk, when Trump announces his $10bn lawsuit against the broadcaster, Howick is reeling. “I’m incredibly proud to work for them,” he says. When he thinks back to the times he used to watch sitcoms and dramas with his family, it was almost always on the BBC. “And if I ever have a choice to watch a channel for a global event like a wedding or a World Cup final, then I would always choose the BBC, and I think most people would. The quality of the coverage, the journalism, and the production is second to none, and we’re lucky to have it, and I’m very privileged to have worked for them for the past 20 years. As far as I’m concerned, the comedy output from the BBC over my lifetime has been the best in the world.”

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Out of all the TV shows Howick has starred in over the years, it’s Horrible Histories he gets recognised for the most these days (save for the occasional Peep Show fan yelling “Oi, Gerard, you prick!”). When the show – part gruesome history guide, part musical sketch comedy – was on from 2009 to 2014, it was targeted at 10-year-olds, who are now in their mid-twenties and frequenting the same pubs and gigs as Howick.

Howick as ‘Naughty Napoleon’ in ‘Horrible Histories’ (BBC)

I read that, on Horrible Histories, he and his co-stars would try to sneak sex noises into the sketches. When I ask for more information here, he hoots, explaining that it was a “morale exercise” they devised to keep themselves sane. “We were in our mid-twenties at the time, so I think it’s fair to say we hadn’t reached peak maturity. And also there was a level of hysteria generated on the set of Horrible Histories due to the amount of work we had to do. I don’t think I could do the show now – it’s a young man’s game, that job. It made you hysterical – the looks, the amount of time in the makeup chair, the lack of time filming each sketch. It all added to the tone of the show – kind of punky, throwaway, dressing-up-box – I think that’s what made it such a hit, really.”

The sex noises, he said, “can probably be found if you listen hard enough. You’ll have to watch all of it, every episode.”

We’re coming to the end of our time and talk turns to New Year’s plans – is there a “fireworks fantasaganza” on the cards?

“Some people are happy just to stay in and allow it just to be another number on the calendar,” says Howick. “I don’t know if I’m there yet, but it’s definitely quietened down for me. New Year’s Eve for me is board games and a kitchen disco with a few friends. And not going anywhere, really.” He shoots me a look and, dare I say, it’s exuberant. “Apart from oblivion, of course!”

The New Year’s special of ‘Here We Go’ airs at 8pm on 31 December on BBC One