Henpocalypse! creator ‘begged’ Danny Dyer to star: “It had to be him”

Henpocalypse! follows a group of women on a hen do at a remote Welsh cottage, when an apocalyptic pandemic strikes that eradicates roughly half of the world's population.

The series comes from Caroline Moran, whose previous work includes the semi-autobiographical Raised by Wolves (co-written with her sister, Caitlin), and last year's Channel 4 comedy Hullraisers, which has been renewed for a second season.

At a press event celebrating the launch of the series, Moran revealed that she had written Dyer into her script before he had any knowledge of the project even existing – then, she just had to hope he would agree to join.

She began: "There's only one Danny Dyer so it absolutely had to be him. He's fantastic. He was everything and more than I hoped he would be.

"I mean, all the time I was writing I thought it had to be Danny Dyer, I really wanted it to be Danny Dyer. It felt quite mad to be writing something specifically for one person, but then it all came together – it was a miracle."

Moran explained: "I wrote him an email, sort of begging, basically, and going, ‘I think you're amazing, you're a national treasure – what do you say?’ And he was up for it."

Dyer shares most of his scenes with Kate O'Flynn (Everyone Else Burns) as Jen, an unpopular member of the hen party who falls on particularly unfortunate times when society crumbles.

O'Flynn said: "I was really excited to work with [him] because it's Danny Dyer – I mean, what's not to love? And he was an absolute delight, and didn't disappoint at all.

"[He had] so many anecdotes, he's a brilliant actor and completely got on board; understood the genius of Caz’s writing and was completely behind it."

She continued: "It was quite intense. Because of his scheduling, we had three days and it was just me and him, so it was important that we got on. It was a kind of fever dream... when he went, it was like, ‘Did that even happen?’"

Although Dyer was a fan of Moran's scripts, O'Flynn revealed that he wasn't afraid to correct lines here and there in the interest of authenticity.

The Landscapers actor added: "There were a couple of phrases in the script that Danny would be like, 'I wouldn't say that', and I guess he's the expert, right? But he was so up for it and such easy company."

Henpocalypse! premieres on BBC Two and iPlayer on Tuesday 15th August 2023. Check out more of our Comedy coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on.

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