Johnny Vegas on doing his own 'stunts' on Murder, They Hope

Johnny Vegas has been talking about how he did all his own stunts in the new festive Murder, They Hope special – and isn’t entirely happy about it.

While the comic admits his scenes – being wheeled around in a shopping trolley – are hardly the stuff of Mission: Impossible, he has plenty to complain about.

‘I swear to God, if I hear one more person talking about Tom Cruise doing his own stunts!’ he joked. ‘I had to endure six hours in a shopping trolley. He might be jumping off a motorbike and opening a parachute, but I risked DVT. 

‘Every moment I put my legs into a position that isn’t based on sitting on a couch, I’m in danger. I did hours and hours in that shopping trolley.’

Meanwhile his co-star Sian Gibson had a tougher job – of trying to push Vegas around - ‘on a gradient, mind, not a smooth surface,’ the comic is quick to add. ‘We will have to re-record a lot of the dialogue because there were so many expletives when we were filming. 

‘Also, how, going 0.1 miles an hour, can you get motion sickness? But I did because Sian was only able to swing the back of the shopping trolley around.’

He added that he enjoyed working with Gibson as ‘we have a similar sense of humour and we are similarly tough on ideas in scripts. We are instinctively in agreement on stuff in front of the camera. 

‘Away from the camera, of course, she’s wrong about everything! But just when you want to block her number, she brings it on set and she’s so brilliant, you think, "Right, I’d better forgive her." 

‘Working with Sian, it just doesn’t feel like acting. When I’m with her, I don’t have to try and I don’t have to catch myself acting. She is such an amazing natural performer. She is a joy to work with. ‘

The feeling is mutual, with Gibson saying of Vegas: ‘He’s a great friend and we laugh all day, it’s not really work’.

The new show, Blood Actually, sees their characters Terry and Gemma trying to spend Christmas in idyllic rural cottage. But when they find Terry forgot to bring a turkey, the only way to get one is for him to enter the village Santa competition 

‘It is a very big deal in the village,’ Vegas explains, ‘But Terry hasn’t prepped, while everyone else has spent a year building up to this. So Terry has to cobble together something at the last minute.’

And of course things take a sinister turn. ‘There's plenty of gruesome festive themed murders in this episode,’ says Gibson. ‘And if that doesn't scream Merry Christmas, what does?

‘It’s definitely not your usual Christmas film, although saying that there’s plenty of elves and an abundance of Father Christmases – albeit very creepy ones. There’s plenty of Christmassy-themed deaths just for that lovely festive feelgood factor. Death in a Christmas stocking and exploding Christmas crackers to name just two.’

Guest stars in the Christmas special include  Jane Horrocks, Anita Dobson, Martin Kemp, Rose Ayling-Ellis, Peter Davison, Robert Webb and Jack Carroll, below, who previously starred with Vegas in the film Eaten By Lions.

‘You know how American actors are allowed to have a dog on set?’ Vegas said. ‘I think they bring Jack in because they know he’s good for me. He’s like my therapy dog. I’m sure he’ll love being described in that way!’.

The Murder, They Hope Christmas special written by comic Jason Cook, airs on Gold at 9pm next Saturday.

Published: 10 Dec 2023