Aimee Lou Wood and David Morrissey on their new BBC sitcom Daddy Issues

BBC Three’s new comedy Daddy Issues – in which 24-year-old Gemma is forced to flatshare with her useless divorced dad Malcolm after becoming pregnant after a random hook-up – launches next week.  Here the two stars talk about the show

Aimee Lou Wood as Gemma

What can you tell us about Daddy Issues?

Daddy Issues is a very funny comedy that also has lots of heart about a father and a daughter getting to know each other as adults and as people and they basically wind up as flatmates and what ensues is lots of fun, love and comedy.

How would you describe your character Gemma?

Gemma is a very honest, independent, true to herself woman who finds it hard to let people in fully and to accept help. Over the course of the series she learns how to be vulnerable and open up to people and not always be so hyper independent.

What’s Gemma’s relationship like with Malcolm?

At the beginning of the series Gemma and Malcolm feel like strangers to one another. Even though they are father and daughter, they don’t really know each other that well, but she’s pregnant and needs someone and he’s going through a divorce so they need each other. As the show goes on they start to really see each other as humans and we see how Gemma and Malcolm through all their weird choices and crazy ways they just choose to love each other through it all.

So what attracted you to the role?

I genuinely laughed my head off at the scripts when I read them, I was like I’m sold! It just kept getting better and better. I found out David Morrissey would be playing Malcolm and I was like I HAVE to do it, I have to play David Morrissey’s daughter because I’ve loved him since I was a kid in everything he’s done. 

Also I wanted to see David Morrissey playing this part because its so silly and he’s this incredible actor, known for his dramatic roles. I wanted to see what he was going to do with this part and he went above and beyond anything I could have ever expected.

Honestly, I just love him and I hope he’s in my life forever. On set we had really great chats but we’re also really good at sitting next to each other and just existing. 

The show is filmed and based in Stockport, was that important to you that it was filmed in your hometown?

I didn’t think it was important to me until I got there and started filming it… it brought back really fond memories of growing up there.

Tell me about the rest of the cast.

Sharon Rooney who plays my sister Catherine in the show has played my sister twice as we were sisters in [The Electrical Life Of] Louis Wain, and Susan Lynch who plays my mum in this has also played my mum in Sex Education so we’ve obviously got some family connections going on there - it’s the brown eyes I think. 

We have such an amazing cast in the show. Sarah Hadland, Taj, Arian, David Fynn every single person in this is incredible.

Finally ,what’s next for you?

The White Lotus season 3, filming in Thailand, very exciting and very overwhelming. A year ago the two jobs I said I wanted to do was Cabaret and White Lotus so it’s weird that I’ve done it.

David Morrissey as Malcolm

What can you tell us about Daddy Issues?

It's about a young girl who finds herself in a position in life where she needs help of her family and her family aren’t around. Her mother has disappeared and her sister is somewhere else so she has to rely on her dad who’s a bit of a man-child who's going through a bit of a crisis so they are brought together as he tries to help her now she’s pregnant.

Malcolm has been infantilised all his life and doesn’t know the basics of how to look after himself in the world. At best he’s naive at worst he’s ignorant. 

 But he’s in crisis, we meet him in a crisis but he’s unable to look after himself.

How would you describe his relationship with Gemma?

He loves his daughter and she loves him but whether they are good for each other is debatable. They are both in desperate need and they find themselves at a point in life where they need to lean on each other but they aren’t sure whether the other is capable of holding that weight. 

There’s some heightened emotions between the two of them particularly as she’s at a point in her life where she is in desperate need.

What attracted you to the role?

I just loved him. I love Aimee Lou Wood.

When Daddy Issues came along I was looking for something a bit different as I do quite a lot of heavy dramas so I was looking for something that was a bit more comedic. This was perfect for me.

I have done comedy in the past, Blackpool which I really loved and Inside No 9 and I’ve done some comedy in the theatre. I was looking for something that was going to exercise that part of my craft, looking for something that was going to hit my funny bone a bit more than the past.

I thought the first two episodes of Daddy Issues were so great and the standard of writing has maintained that quality. I love every episode. It’s been a challenge to do but I’ve been really loving it.

• Daddy Issues launches on BBC Three from Thursday August 15, with the whole series available on BBC iPlayer from then

Published: 6 Aug 2024