WHAT CAN FANS EXPECT FROM THIS FEATURE-LENGTH FAREWELL TO PLEBS?
TOM ROSENTHAL: What we've tried to do is give an episode of Plebs a bit more length, and a bit more war. The stuff that you like in Plebs will still be there, but there's some action sequences. At times, in very small windows, it will look like a film that Russell Crowe should be in as opposed to Tom Rosenthal. That's the plan anyway.
TOM BASDEN: I think maybe a film Russell Crowe should have been in 20 years ago, I dunno about now. It's all the characters that everyone's watched for however many years and knows and loves, but in an environment that is very dynamic, exciting and explosive – and just on a much bigger scale, in a story that spans Europe and takes our characters into places that they've never experienced before.
WHAT MADE THIS A FEATURE-LENGTH EPISODE AS OPPOSED TO A SIXTH SERIES?
TOM BASDEN: By now, we know the characters so well that I feel like this was our opportunity to say goodbye to the show – both from a writing point of view, and also for the actors in it. Telling one story, over a longer period of time, it's just a much more satisfying way to do that. You can thread in storylines over a much longer period but also pay off stuff that's been brewing for the last five series. For us, there was a huge appeal about taking the boys somewhere new and really taking them out of their comfort zone, and also telling a different kind of story.
WERE THERE ANY STUNT MISHAPS?
TOM ROSENTHAL: There's one bit where I have to hit Kare Conradi, who plays Segimundus, with a sword but he had a pad to stop him getting bruised. I missed the pad about nine times and I just kept apologising. He was very patient with it, he forgave me many more times than he should. And then for about three weeks afterwards, he would just text me a picture of his arm, which was getting progressively more and more blue. I'd essentially scarred one of Norway's greatest actors with my sword and accuracy.
DID A LOT OF RESEARCH GO INTO THE WAR SIDE OF THESE STORYLINES?
TOM BASDEN: We watched a lot of war films when we started out writing this and also those classic comedy war films Stripes and Spies Like Us, along with Platoon – which the scene you're talking about is kind of an homage to. That's the lovely thing about a war film, as opposed to a war itself, when you approach it, people expect certain stories, they expect certain shapes, and you can have a lot of fun with how you subvert that and how you do something different.
DO YOU OFTEN GET ACCOSTED BY FANS THANKING YOU FOR CREATING THE SHOW?
TOM BASDEN: In terms of demographic, it's a mixture of young lads and also a lot of, like, friends of my mum's. I think a lot of people who are a bit older, like 50, 60, 70-odd, really enjoy how rude it is and really love the sort of voyeurism. They just take a lot of pleasure from seeing these people getting humiliated, which is what we obviously put Tom through every week.
TOM ROSENTHAL: I think I've had four or five people who work behind bars tell me it's their favourite show. So maybe that's an answer to your question.
:: Plebs: Soldiers Of Rome is available to stream on ITVX from Thursday December 8.
