Jamie Demetriou: ‘Stath Lets Flats is about everything but Brexit’

The writer and actor chats to Ellie Harrison about Greekness, hipsters and why no one on ‘Love Island’ calls anyone out for talking crap – ‘because they’re all talking crap’

'My Greekness was bound to come out of one orifice or another' (Michael Shelford)

Jamie Demetriou’s favourite game as a child was to stack up all of his class photos from throughout his years at school, knock on his sister Natasia’s bedroom door and ask her to do impressions of everyone in the pictures.

“That was my dream,” he smiles at the memory. “I would just love her to do that. It was like I had my favourite comedian just living down the hall who I could go and ask to do a set for me.”

Demetriou, 31, is the creator and star of Stath Lets Flats on Channel 4, a shrewdly observed, supremely quotable comedy about a moronic, yet lovable, Greek-Cypriot lettings agent. The actor is charming, self-effacing and gloriously silly when we meet on a much-too-chilly August day in Fitzrovia. We had arranged to go to a cafe but, when we arrive, we’re told that it caught fire a few days ago, so we shiver into our hot drinks outside.

Many Fleabag fans will recognise Demetriou from his scene-stealing turn as “Bus Rodent” in the first series of Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Bafta-winning hit, when he wore such ridiculous fake teeth that, three years on, people still approach him in the street and demand he opens his mouth. However, Demetriou is “reluctant to talk about the teeth thing”, recalling a recent interview headline that focused on his denticles.

When Demetriou talks about his older sister Natasia, star of What We Do in the Shadows and sketch pilot of Ellie & Natasia, it’s as if he’s speaking about his soulmate. She also appears in Stath Lets Flats as his sister, Sophie, and having that sibling telepathy on set is clearly a game-changer. “That shorthand is really important,” he says. “There aren’t many people who I can say to in the middle of a scene, ‘It’s the expression that cousin Tony gave us when he told us that dad’s car got trapped in the sand. That’s what I’m looking for.’ But Tash is like, ‘I get it.’”

It’s difficult not to compare the Demetriou siblings to This Country’s creators and stars Daisy May and Charlie Cooper, who Demetriou says are “the funniest people I’ve ever met in my life”. And like The Coopers, the Demetrious include family cameos in their material – although sometimes that’s easier said than done.

“My dad is in series one of Stath Lets Flats, very briefly,” laughs Demetriou. “He doesn’t have a line. Well, he had a line, but he couldn’t nail it.” When Demetriou asked him to pretend to be asleep instead, he kept opening his eyes. “So we just put some sunglasses on him,” says Demetriou. “So his cameo is effectively him just sitting, looking dead, with sunglasses on.”

The scene in question was shared with the actor Alex Beckett, who died by suicide just after season one wrapped filming. Demetriou has not decided whether to address the absence of his character Marcus. “There may be a subtle reference but it’s a difficult area,” says the actor, looking down at his feet. “It feels like any angle you take would be doing a disservice to the truth. Alex was just objectively a perfect person. On set, if ever I felt stressed, I would always know he was a point of calm in the room to talk to. We will miss him and it won’t feel the same without him.”

Demetriou is by far most comfortable and animated when speaking about his family. He describes his father, whom the show’s patriarch Vasos is loosely based on, as “an eccentric ball of idiosyncrasies and love – and surprises”.

He adds: “Most of my knowledge of Greekness comes directly from my dad who, despite having lived here for 65 years, still has a stronger Greek accent than most people who never left Cyprus.”

Greekness is a significant theme in the show, with many of the jokes revolving around Stath’s awkward intonation, mangling of old-fashioned English expressions and totally made-up phrases. “That’s an absolute crooner of a property, you lucky sod,” he tells one baffled client. But Demetriou explains that the “Greek thing” is purely “incidental”.

“My Greekness was bound to come out of one orifice or another because I am Greek,” he says. “It wasn’t like, ‘I need to see these people represented.’ But I’m so happy that I have, because it has reattached me to a culture that I am separated from as a result of living in London. And the more I’ve done the show, the more connected I feel. It’s very cathartic and good to attach yourself to your roots.”

Stath’s language quirks are not based solely on being Greek, however, and Demetriou explains that reality TV is “such a big influence” for him. “I feel like it’s full of bravado and people trying to be more articulate than they are,” he says. “So you’re left with these mad sentences that don’t make sense… It’s like on Love Island, watching it recently, when someone’s talking crap there’s no one to call them out, because they’re all talking crap.”

Demetriou is keen to emphasise that Stath Lets Flats is not trying to convey some higher message about what it means to be Greek or the state of the world. What, then, does he think of the show being described as “the perfect parable for our fractured Brexit age”? Demetriou says the comedy is “about everything but that”.

“I don’t know if this is irresponsible,” he says, “but I really wanted to just try to create an out-and-out comedy. You can’t attack every issue with everything you do. I understand that housing and Brexit interlink in a way that sort of needs flagging up, but I don’t think this is the show to do it. It’s not a satire, it’s a family comedy about a sweet idiot.”

“It’s a very lowbrow show,” he adds, with pride in his eyes.

And blimey hell, as Stath would say, Demetriou should be proud. He’s created a character who is constantly quoted and referenced by a generation of fans. And a scene from series one, involving a pigeon running riot in a flat and Stath breaking roughly seven televisions, made me laugh until I cried.

Demetriou reminisces fondly about the six birds that were used to shoot the scene. “There are different pigeons for different skill sets and different needs,” he explains. “So if you want a kind of James Dean chilled pigeon they get out Darren, and then if you want one that’s sarky and actually gets on board with the idiosyncratic comedy vibe, then it’s Peter every time.”

Tall tales: Stath nailing another flat viewing (Channel 4) (Picture credit: Channel 4)

While there won’t be any big animal cameos in the new episodes – “they feature as a side gag” – the second series does see the arrival of a species which has become quite ubiquitous in London’s concrete jungle: hipsters.

“I was always fascinated by the idea of what would happen if Stath was to meet my friends,” says Demetriou. “Media people who like, I don’t know, restaurants and things.”

In season two, Stath has a few hipsters turn up to view flats, none of which improv genius Demetriou has laid eyes on before filming. “Stath can’t understand why hipsters like the things that they like,” says Demetriou, such as why they think “old cupboards are nicer than new cupboards”, and so on.

Demetriou’s social awareness is acute, and it’s what enables him to write such brilliant characters, from Apprentice-wannabe Carol to alpha Love Island type Julian. But with social awareness often comes a degree of anxiety.

“I think my anxiety is part of what makes me try to create something that I love,” he says. “And if I didn’t have it I’d be so relaxed that I’d end up releasing something that I didn’t care as much about. The problem is I’m just constantly worried about whether I’ve made something that I find funny, and right now I have no idea if I have for this series…

“It’s so funny being interviewed at this stage, because we’re still in the edit. But right now, it’s like I’m being interviewed about drowning when I’m still under water... I’m like, ‘I still can’t breathe.’”

Stath with his fellow Michael & Eagle Lettings employees (Channel 4) (Picture credit: Channel 4)

Perhaps partly to quell his anxiety, whatever Demetriou does next, he wants it to be completely different from Stath Lets Flats, which he’s been working on almost consistently for 10 years.

“A big part of my schtick in my live comedy is doing earnest R&B ballads,” says Demetriou, “and I used to be in a band when I was a teenager, so I’m trying to merge those two things.

“It’s the furthest thing I could be doing from Stath right now, a comedy R&B album. So that might be popping up in the next 100 years.”

Stath Lets Flats series two begins on Monday 19 August at 10pm on Channel 4