On my radar: Jack Rooke’s cultural highlights
The comedian and writer Jack Rooke was born in Watford in 1993. He’s best known for writing the Channel 4 sitcom Big Boys, a loosely autobiographical tale of a working-class “mummy’s boy” going to university, making friends, dealing with grief and coming out as gay. The series, which first aired in 2022 and received four Bafta nominations, was based on his Edinburgh fringe shows Good Grief and Happy Hour, as well as Rooke’s 2020 memoir Cheer the F**k Up. The second season, described by the Guardian in a five-star review as “gorgeous and poignant [with] plenty of knob jokes”, is on Channel 4 now.
1. Film
How to Have Sex (dir Molly Manning Walker)
This is one of the best British debuts I’ve ever seen. It’s about three girls who go to Malia [in Crete] after their GCSEs on a coming of age, figuring-out-yourself-and-your-friends trip, and the lead, Tara, is the only one who’s a virgin. It looks at sexual politics and the issue of consent for young people on holidays that are built around drinking and shagging. I never guessed where it was going next – it becomes much more compassionate and direct and it says something that other films on that topic haven’t been able to. It’s the first time I’ve cried at the cinema in five years.
2. Book
Four Stars by Joel Golby
I got sent an advance copy of this by the publisher, Mudlark, (it’s out in April) and I’ve read a bit of it and it’s brilliant. It’s a collection of essays that all take the form of a review, dipping into fiction and nonfiction. He reviews quite mundane situations such as how awful it is when you kill a plant, or having a Monday morning with nothing to do, or getting way too into vitamins, which is something that me and my brother did last year. It’s really funny but it ends up saying something quite salient and emotionally surprising.
3. Instagram
Committee to Protect Journalists
We consume so much of our news now via Instagram, and for me the @committeetoprotectjournalists account is a reminder of how important it is to have impartial, protected journalism, especially amid numerous global conflicts and a climate crisis and the American election. Their coverage of the Gaza conflict has been particularly strong, often using graphs and numbers and charts to convey the cold hard facts of what’s going on. They’re promoting press freedom and the rights of journalists on all sides to report safely, without fear of reprisal, or even being killed.
4. Theatre
Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club, Playhouse theatre, London
I hate musicals. Every time I’ve gone to one, I’ve found it absolutely painful. There’s something about somebody earnestly singing that makes my bum-hole seize up. However, Cabaret has such a phenomenal story – about a club in 1930s Berlin as the Nazis are taking hold – and this production’s Kit Kat Club is a phenomenal spectacle. Jake Shears from Scissor Sisters plays the Emcee and Rebecca Lucy Taylor AKA Self Esteem plays Sally Bowles. It’s just really fun to see a musical that is otherwise very camp and provocative being carried by two genuine musical heavyweights. And the story is incredibly timely in terms of how oppressive regimes work.
5. Food
Auld Hag launched during lockdown with the idea to bring a bit of Scottish cuisine to London – they source all of their produce from small Scottish providers. Now they’re opening up a deli in Islington. Because I’ve made my career up in Edinburgh, going to the fringe for the past eight years, there’s something about Scottish food that to me is so warming, homely and seasonal. So it’ll be fun to have a destination in London for all my Scottish guilty pleasures – Glasgow morning rolls, Dundee cake, coffee that’s roasted on the Isle of Skye. They’ve got a good Instagram too.
6. TV
Caroline Aherne: Queen of Comedy (BBC Two)
Over Christmas I watched this great documentary about Caroline Aherne’s life and how she got into comedy. It’s got brilliant talking heads from Steve Coogan to Craig Cash explaining why she was such a trailblazer, writing comedy, like The Royle Family, in a way that really defied the form. And with Mrs Merton, how she was able to make anti-racist, anti-prejudice arguments while dressed like a 70-year-old lady from up north. It pays testament to what an incredible character she was. She’s been gone eight years now but her influence is still very much ingrained in British comedy.
