In the first of a series exploring the stage origins of hit comedies, the actor-writer remembers creating the delusional letting agent at Bristol University
“For a lot of series one, I don’t like Stath as a character,” says Jamie Demetriou, the comedian, actor and writer behind triple Bafta-winning sitcom Stath Lets Flats. “His behaviour is terrible. Even with a character you dislike, you should sympathise. I had to remember what I’d learned on stage – when characters exuded hope or delusional self-belief, the audience were endeared to them.”
When we speak, Demetriou is in LA filming The Afterparty, a new show with Tiffany Haddish. It all sounds far from the basements and pubs of UK live comedy, but that’s where Demetriou started out and where the character of chaotic Greek-Cypriot letting agent Stath, who is set to return in a third series for Channel 4, first began to take shape.
