It’s late and I’m tired. It’s been a long day and all I want to do is go to sleep. But I need to watch the first two episodes of Rosie Jones’ new sitcom before I interview the comedian.
It’s either now or the same time tomorrow, the night before I speak to Rosie. All I want to do is close my eyes. The trouble is, Pushers is quite good, which is a quintessentially British way of saying I absolutely loved it.
The series, written by Rosie and Peter Fellows, stars the former as Emily, a thirty-something lesbian with cerebral palsy whose benefits are slashed because she’s not in pain and can control her bladder. Disheartened, opportunity comes her way as Ewen, played by Ryan McParland, offers her work as a drug dealer. Cue hilarious hijinks and bags of cocaine everywhere.
As I sit down to chat with Rosie, rested after a good night’s sleep and my morning tea, I ask what made her want to play a drug dealer.
“I need to say at the top, it’s not based of real life… Yet, I might have a career change,” she jokes.
And while Rosie has no experience as a drug dealer, surely a blow (pun not intended) for authentic representation, the underlying idea behind the series is one to which she could relate.
“Because of my cerebral palsy, I’m constantly underestimated by society,” she says. “So, we thought how can we push that? And the concept of me dealing drugs really made us laugh.”
Rosie hopes the series will demonstrate how society negatively perceives disability. She also hopes it’s funny. I assure her it is.
The series builds on a Channel 4 Comedy Blap from 2022 called Disability Benefits, a 13-minute version of the series’ first episode. Pushers feels right at home with Channel 4, a platform with a strong record of commissioning diverse and boundary-pushing projects, such as Queer As Folk and It’s A Sin.
Rosie, whose first job out of university “s**t, … 14 years ago”, was with the network and she has always felt championed by them, so it was the obvious choice. “I wholeheartedly don’t think we could’ve made this series with any other channel,” she says.
The past three years have afforded Rosie the time to grow as a comedian, writer and actor. Freely admitting she’s not a trained actor, Rosie says she “learned on the job”. And she excels in a role that puts her front and centre for the first time.
“It really challenged me in terms of my tiredness,” she playfully bemoans of being in almost every scene.
Beyond that, she felt a responsibility to set the tone for everyone else. She learned from past experiences where “frosty” lead actors made filming a “s**t time” for cast and crew. “So, I made time for everyone,” she says.
An access co-ordinator also ensured everyone’s needs were accommodated. “Not to toot my own horn, but not only did we create a series I’m proud of, we were [also] able to create a safe and healthy working environment where everyone was happy.”
Ableism is a topic Rosie has always been open about and Pushers doesn’t shy away from it. “Even the notion that the police don’t suspect Emily as a drug dealer because she’s disabled, even though it’s very good for Emily, is a form of ableism.”
Just as she was mindful of how disability was portrayed in the series, Rosie also took note of how queerness was represented. The first two episodes show Emily’s attraction to her boss, Jo (Rhiannon Clements) and she promises more queer characters.
“At one point during the filming I went: ‘This show is low-key gay, isn’t it?’ And someone looked at me and was like, ‘Rosie, you wrote it. It’s not low-key gay, it’s so f***ing gay because you’re so f***ing gay’.”
The strength of the queer representation is in the intersectionality of queerness and disability, rarely seen on screen so something Rosie felt important to correct. “It’s something core and real to me,” she says remembering her own “lonely” journey with her sexuality.
As she’s discussed previously, Rosie didn’t think it was possible to be both disabled and gay. “That notion came from the fact that I never saw an accurate representation of a queer disabled person. I thought that can’t be me.” She hopes queer disabled people will feel seen by the show.
The new show comes at an interesting time for queer representation on screen. As the recent reactions to the BDSM drama Pillion and the more-sedate The History of Sound demonstrate, it’s becoming difficult to pinpoint what audiences want from LGBTQ+ stories. But queer narratives have definitely shifted away from the well-trodden ground of trauma, with characters becoming more nuanced.
Pushers contributes to that because Emily’s queerness is a part of her but, “it isn’t a main story”. The lack of angst is also partly down to the character’s main priority being cocaine Rosie points out.
“I’m proud of my sexuality but it isn’t a big deal,” Rosie admits. “It isn’t my personality, I don’t go into every situation saying ‘Hello, I’m Rosie. I’m gay’… unless there’s a hot lady in the room and I want to let them know I’m gay.”
As the conversation winds down, I wonder what Rosie can tease for audiences. “I feel the notion of a gang of disabled people dealing drugs to the point of chaos with a sprinkle of queer joy, that’s all you need.”
While no announcement has been made about the future of Pushers, Rosie has plans. “I don’t want to give anything away but me and Peter have ideas that take us to series four. We know exactly where the story will go.”
Pushers starts on at 10pm on Channel 4 on Thursday (19 June).
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