Phoebe Waller-Bridge has hinted that the second series of her black comedy drama ‘Fleabag’ will be completely different from the first.
Phoebe, who wrote and starred in the show depicting a young lady’s struggles with family and romance, was asked by the BBC for a second series of the hit show, even before she bagged a BAFTA, a Royal Television Society Award and a host of other accolades for her work.
The drama, originally shown on BBC Three in the UK, was based on Phoebe’s one-woman show which won the Fringe First Award when she appeared at Edinburgh.
She told HuffPostUK at this year’s Broadcasting Press Guild Awards that, initially, she wasn’t sure she wanted to jinx the project by continuing it, until she realised she could do something “completely different”.
Now, she’s expanded on that, telling Variety:
“It will still be her and her story, but in a completely different time of her life. You know how parts of your life feel different to you, when you look back nostalgically? I just sort of felt like that series should just feel like a stage in her life when that happened.
“And then I’m gonna go into a new stage in her life, so there’ll be a whole new structure and story and everything. I think I’ve found a way to do it.”
As for her initial reluctance to attempt to repeat the success of the first series, she explained:
“I kept saying to myself: ‘Are you going to regret not doing it? Which one are you gonna regret more — not doing it or doing it?’ Cos if I fuck it up, at least I had a go. There’s so much material that I was trying to get into season one that didn’t fit in that story, but there’s still loads of material that I could see working with her. So I’m just gonna see what pops out.”
“I keep telling myself — at the beginning of the process and thinking about doing a second season, I kept telling myself it would be braver not to do a second season. And now I’m starting to think, ‘Fuck it, no. It’s braver to do one!… To take the risk.’ And fuck it, you’ve just gotta throw it all at the wall. What if it’s great? My God, I hope it is.”
Phoebe also explained the origin of the title of the show, which has also been picked up by Amazon in the US, saying:
“It’s kind of my nickname. My family nickname. Flea ears, or occasionally Fleabag. And when I was trying to find a title for the show, my mum phoned me and referred to me as Fleabag on the phone and I was like, oh shit. Shit, that’s it, it’s my name.”