Newark-On-Trent is a small market town in the East Midlands. It sits between Lincoln and Nottingham. The A1 motorway veers right next to it. The town has a big Romany heritage and was heavily involved in the English Civil War. It’s not really the type of place you would expect a British sitcom to be set in. However, that’s what writer Nathan Foad, who is Newark born-and-raised, has done with his new TV show ‘Newark, Newark’.
The official blurb on the show reads: “’Newark, Newark’ is set in the small working class market town in the East Midlands and follows pugnacious chip shop manager and exhausted matriarch, Maxine, as she tries to ride out her divorce and find someone who actually lights her fire.
However, it’s easier said than done with her big-mouthed, soft-bellied, son, Leslie dramatically coming out as gay to the surprise of no one and her dullard ex-husband, Terry, trying ever more desperately to win her back.
With family and love at its core, Newark, Newark captures the goofy, sticky oddness of long English summers and the joyous, comforting and somewhat ridiculous things that go on in a small town.”
As both Nathan and myself are from Newark originally I caught up with him to discuss how his life growing up in the town impacted on him writing the show, what it was like actually filming there and also how he got to include very specific Newark slang words.
How do you describe Newark to other people?
The town?
Yeah
I actually find it quite hard to sum up. The formal thing I always say is that it’s a small working-class market town in in the East Midlands. That’s what I always say to people who don’t know it. But when I left Newark I realised what a special and funny little town it is. It wasn’t until I went to drama school and met people from cities that I kind of realised how strange a town it is. Newark is visually beautiful. All of the Tudor buildings and the cobblestone streets and the market place. But then there isn’t a lot of money in Newark. The schools aren’t great. It’s like a forgotten corner in the East Midlands. I’ve always seen it as a funny little town of contradictions. The people of Newark are very specific and proud. I always say to people that if you go to certain parts of Newark that you’ll need a dictionary because the slang is so specific. It’s just a funny little town. I think the East Midlands in general has a certain identity that often gets forgotten because we talk about the UK, and in England as well, in terms of north and south. Even when you talk about the midlands most people think you’re talking about Birmingham. I feel like the East Midlands gets forgotten and swept away. It has its own unique identity and that’s what I’m trying to… in a very small way, I’m not trying to speak for the whole of the East Midlands, I’m just trying to capture it in a very small way in the show.
With yourself growing up in Newark, did you think there was enough humour in its inhabitants that you had met through the years that you could write a show about the town?
I did. I come from quite a big family. My mum’s one of nine children. I just come from a massive family so maybe I just have a particularly funny family. I come from this funny chaotic family and I think Newark is like this funny chaotic town. I guess that influenced me slightly. I always felt that Newark was defined to me by this dry, funny cynicism. I don’t think anyone realises they are being funny in my family. It’s like a dry, proud sensibility that always made me laugh. My aunties I find funny. My mum I find funny. All their mannerisms. I just wanted to inject a bit of that into the show, particularly the female characters because I love them so much.
It’s not until you move away from Newark that you realise how funny many people who live there are, and yet but they don’t seem to realise it.
Yeah, and that’s where the best comedy comes from. Because I was a bit of an outsider naturally anyway. I was a bit of a weirdo growing up, I never really fit in. Actually that’s quite useful because you are on the exterior. You can look in and it makes you a bit of an observer. I was a bit of a parrot growing up. I loved doing accents and impressions. I would hoover up all those little titbits from those around me in Newark.
Beyond the two central characters, Leslie and Maxine, are there any other characters that are based on real people you knew from Newark?
No. The other supporting characters are like weird, little amalgamations of different people that I’ve met. I would never say that Pauline is based on my nan. But I have met that woman a million times [laughs]. I realise that Maxine and Leslie are very specific characters and are unique to my experience. So then I wanted to flesh out the world a little bit with broadening it out and representing other experiences of growing up in Newark, not just my own.
You did actually film in the town. How did you come to the decision of actually filming it all there?
That’s a good question. We filmed all over the place. We really did descend on the town. The town was amazing. People were very generous in having us film on their streets and in their shops. That was very cool. The boring answer is that a lot of it is about logistics [laughs]. So when we were picking houses it was what has enough space and what is right for the characters. Same with the chip shop that we filmed in. Where would be a practical location to film in? Because there are so many places you stumble across – a little house or a little shop – and you think that would be perfect and then you realise there is no way you could fit an entire TV crew inside it. It was so important that, particularly for the houses, that it felt right for the characters. We saw a couple of houses and one of them was too nice. It made me question where they would get the money from to live there. So it had to be really specific and characterful.
One thing about the show I really like is that you have used all the Newark specific slang words and terminology. But do you think anyone from outside of Newark is going to know what they mean?
We had a lot of discussions about this and every time a Newark slang word was used in the script it was carefully considered and there were discussions about it. It was a non-negotiable deal for me, and I’ve been developing the show for about five or six years now, and it was always a non-negotiable deal for me because we had to honour the Newark slang and the Newark dialect because it is one of the things that makes the town so unique. Also, I think it’s unbelievably funny. It’s this unbelievably funny and bizarre… and if you drive fifteen minutes down the road they don’t use the slang. It’s like a weird little pocket where people are speaking a different language. To be fair, UKTV were great. They never once said to me: “You can’t use this word because people won’t know what it means.” I very specifically tried to design all of the dialogue that when a slang word is being used you can kind of work out what it means just by using context clues. The success of Derry Girls really helped me out because it was a hugely successful comedy and really leans into that very specific Derry slang and that Derry dialect. That show never really stops to explain what it means. So you just kind of have to work it out. So, I feel like I got away with something there [using Newark slang].
Was there any slang works that you weren’t able to put in? I’m guessing something like Prostie, which means push bike, you couldn’t put in?
Hmmmm… I didn’t want to ever feel like I was crowbarring in words. I’m trying to think… maybe there was one example in the show where someone said… So, Oliver Woollford, who is an actor in the show, is from Newark itself. He’s a local boy. He’s amazing in the show. He plays the bully. At one point he used the word Buer and I loved it and said let’s keep that in. Then when we got to the edit I wasn’t sure if there was enough context here to know what that actually means. That was more my decision than anyone else. I always wanted to make sure that if we are using the slang then it has to be in a way that everyone understands what is being said. So… there was a Buer in there and we got a Chore in there a couple of times. I nearly cut the word Chinga and then I was really glad I left it in [laughs].
You managed to get a Roar in there as well
Oh yeah. It was always very fun. Matt Horne, who plays Terry, because he is from Nottingham he really lent into the slang. He loved saying the slang, he was great for that. Same with Oliver as well because he is from Newark. Sometimes I would say to him: “If you can think of a more Newark-y way of saying this then do it.” Which is really special.
How did you explain to Morgana Robinson what each slang word she was saying actually meant?
To be fair, Morgana Robinson is so skilled… she is famously known for being an impressionist and a mimic. She is soooo good at adopting other people’s mannerisms that I don’t think anything fazes her. We went through the script together. I was on set every day. I was always there because I’m an executive producer on the show as well. There were plenty of times where I would be in the middle of a scene and I’d get called onto set because someone had a question asking: “What does this mean? I’ve just realised I don’t know what this word means.” I’d have to sort of explain it. What was another one? Oh… we got Meygram in there and I remember having to talk to Beverley Callard about how to say it. There were a couple of times when I had to coach people through.
You mention about Matt Horne being a local lad. Is that part of the reason you hired local actors because then you didn’t have to explain the slang words and also coach them about the accent?
For sure. It does make it easier. It’s a balancing act. You want to find amazing people who are really right for the parts. But you also want to have that authenticity in there. I’m happy with the balance we found. We were just so fortunate with Matt because not only is Matt a very beloved and well-known actor he also has that dialect naturally. We were just really lucky because he read the scripts and wanted to do it. Matt had the easiest, breeziest time on-set because everyone else was trying to wrap their mouths around the accent and trying to get the grips with the slang and it was so naturally in Matt.
When it comes to ideas for a second series, what would you like to do with them? A day out at Newark Agricultural show? A trip to Nottingham?
I love all those characters so much that I have such affection for them that I could just write them forever, which is a real joy and quite rare for a writer. I have so many plans. We couldn’t get the castle in there this series. I do want to get the castle in there. I want to get some of the Lincolnshire coast in there. I want to do a day out to Skegness or Ingoldmells. That would be fun. A night out in Nottingham would be very fun because when I was about eighteen I went on about five nights out in Nottingham and I thought it was the most glamourous city ever. Leslie’s first night out there I think, we could have a lot of fun.
You mention wanting to get Newark Castle in the show. How about this for a scene pitch: Castle in the background while Leslie getting completely pissed at the Castle Barge pub in the foreground.
Yeah [laughs]. The Barge, of course. I didn’t even think about that. You are very right actually. That’s a good way of doing it. Great, we will just have to set an episode on the Barge [laughs].
I’m more than happy to be a background extra during the filming on the Barge. As long as the beer is covered by production.
It’s funny because my brother has offered me the same service [laughs].
The only way to sign off this interview is with some proper Newark slang. So, Nathan… thanks mush
[laughs] oh cheers mush.
‘Newark, Newark’ launches on Gold from Monday 28th March 2022 at 9pm. Watch the trailer below:
