Romesh Ranganathan on why he decided to make his sitcom debut

The comedian and TV favourite talks about his hilarious new show, The Reluctant Landlord

(Sky One)

“The main thing I took solace in was that I was playing a grumpy man,” says Romesh Ranganathan about the daunting task of taking on his first acting role. “And if I can’t nail playing myself, there’s probably going to be issues going forward.”

The comedian, whose sardonic, self-deprecating humour has seen him rise through the ranks from comedy show panellist and stand-up regular to a beloved TV fixture in a few short years, is starring in Sky One’s promising new sitcom The Reluctant Landlord. He plays Rom, a cynical dad who has inherited his late father’s pub, running it with little enthusiasm and less success.

It’s a semi-autobiographical story; Ranganathan’s father bought a pub after coming out of prison, and his children took on the responsibility of running it after he died unexpectedly in 2011. It was a difficult time in his life, but co-writing and starring in The Reluctant Landlord wasn’t necessarily a cathartic process. “There’s a photo of my dad that we had in the actual pub, and now we’ve just got a photo of a 60-something brown man,” he muses, deadpan. “He looked a bit like my dad, but not enough for me to get emotional over.”

(Sky One (Sky One)

Already recommissioned for a second season, the show takes the best bits of British sitcoms and adds a modern edge. Rom and his wife, Natasha (Sian Gibson) capture the trials and tribulations of modern parenting with a discerning panache, while Foster (Steve Edge), owner of the rival pub, embodies the pompous pretentiousness that has come to define certain 2018 eating and drinking establishments. “We’re getting rid of the TV at The Dog (to) turn it into more of a spoken word centre,” he tells Rom with no sense of irony.

There’s also Lemon (Nick Helm), Rom’s best friend and part of the pub’s furniture, and his visiting mother (played by Alison Steadman), who tends to put on problematic accents. If you’re a fan of Ranganathan’s dry and scathing takedowns, The Reluctant Landlord is sure to be your new favourite show.

The Reluctant Landlord is on Sky One on Tuesdays at 10pm. It is also on Now TV

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