Will Mellor - White Van Man: 'Real White Van Men Shout At Me' (INTERVIEW, TRAILER)

‘Real White Van Men Shout At Me’
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Will Mellor is used to having people stare at him on the street - he's been a familiar face for a decade with roles in Casualty, Hollyoaks and the long-running Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps.

Being shouted at by passing tradesmen is something new, courtesy of his new role as Ollie in White Van Man, which has just finished its second series.

"Most of them shout 'we're not that crap'," Mellor tells me. Sure enough, Olly did seem to spend most of series one botching his way through jobs, and surviving on charm and luck, something Mellor was aware of himself.

"There's no way Olly would get everything that wrong. There's pressure with a second series, you have to continue what you started, but we wanted to make it different, stretch our legs with the characters, hopefully set it up for a third one.

"It's more about the main characters, and the relationships with Emma (Georgia Moffett) and Liz (Naomi Bentley), his father (Clive Mantle), that sort of thing. Liz is secretly in love with Olly - but will she ever tell him? The back stories are building..."

Just as Mellor made Two Pints of Lager his previous long-term home, it's clear he's replaced the comfy slippers of Gaz with Ollie, although he's keen to stress the differences:

"This isn't a sitcom, there are no set-up gags, it's far more gentle. Hopefully, we're creating a fictitious world of me and my friends, and people will come along for the ride."

This is Mellor's first time to take on the burden of leading man status all by himself - is he ready?

"More than - I've been doing it for a long time. I was chuffed to be given the responsibility and, while I love to have a belly laugh on set every day, my professional side requires me being first on set, knowing all my lines, because you have to set an example to everyone."

He's obviously come a long way since his days on Casualty, while many of his peers have fallen by the wayside, so what does Mellor credit with his continuing success?

"I've got a good agent.

"He told me a long time ago where he wanted my career to go. And my part of the deal was, 'If you get me in the room, I'll get the job.'

"But you can be great at the job and not work, so I just feel lucky. I don't do a job for a job's sake, if I don't think I can do it justice, but I've been very fortunate, so I can only do the best job I can, and be nice to everyone while I'm doing it."

White Van Man Series 2 is available now. Here's a clip...