Stephen Merchant thanks Bristol at ‘The Outlaws’ world premiere at Watershed

The statue of Edward Colston being toppled is recreated in graffiti in the opening credits of The Outlaws, which held its world premiere in Bristol.

A red carpet was rolled out in front of the Watershed on a wet Monday night for the first screening of the new BBC One show from Stephen Merchant.

Merchant was among the cast on the red carpet for the event, where he thanked the people of Bristol for being so welcoming to the production as it continues to film in his home city.

The Hanham-born star said that Bristol “is part of the show, almost a character as it goes on”.

Episode one of the comedy-thriller originally known as The Offenders starts in the Galleries shopping centre and features other familiar locations including Park Street, the Bearpit, the Cumberland Basin flyover and Dove Street flats in Kingsdown.

The Old Bank of England building on the corner of Castle Park becomes the site of the Avon Valley probation service, where a disparate group of people including a petty criminal played by Oscar-winning actor Christopher Walken meet before completing their community service cleaning up a community centre.

At the Q&A after the screening hosted by comedian Jayde Adams, who has a cameo role in a later episode, Merchant spoke warmly of filming in Bristol for the first time in his professional career.

He said that the Colston statue had already been written into the show and subsequently had to be rewritten following its toppling in June 2020.

“There was a discussion for the characters about the fact that this Colston statue was there, and then when we got locked down, it then got toppled down, so we had to rewrite the script to accommodate that but we still wanted to talk about it and address it in the show.

“So in the next episode (two) they do talk about the statue… It’s ironic that things that were already in our heads when writing it became even more relevant and prominent as the show was being made. We were trying to be specific to the city.”

Bristol-born actor Gamba Cole and his mum on the red carpet – photo: Charlie Watts

Merchant also apologised for the production team turning the Rastafari Culture Centre on Grosvenor Road in St Paul’s into a sex shop for The Outlaws.

“It was one of those unfortunate things,” he said.

“You end up showing up and you’re not quite aware of what the location is until you get there. So that was an unfortunate error on our part.

“But on the whole, even then, most of the local people were happy for us to be there and to be filming there. There was a few people who were vocal.

“You always do what you can to try to be sensitive to everything, and unfortunately it’s a big operation, moving around like a giant machine and you can’t double-check everything.”

The red carpet was rolled out in front of the Watershed for The Outlaws premiere – photo: Charlie Watts

Main photo: Charlie Watts

Read more: Record shop owner to have cameo appearance in ‘The Offenders’

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