Jack Rooke

Freshers’ life in Big Boys (2022) expects Jack to have a good time before he has worked out how to be there. Dylan Llewellyn plays the student; Rooke writes and narrates, keeping the anxiety close while the comedy gets busy around him. His wry delivery helps the programme find jokes without dismissing the young man’s worries. We rate him highly in that combination of writing and voice performance. He understands that Jack can be grieving and still have more immediate things to worry about.

Rooke’s route to the programme runs through the stage show Good Grief (2015) and the memoir Cheer the Fk Up (2020), both drawn on for Big Boys. Moving from writer-performer to a sitcom’s narrator lets him keep the personal voice while another actor supplies the face and body. That division matters: Llewellyn makes Jack’s shyness clear without piling up nervous mannerisms. We were moved by Jack’s struggle through freshers’ life because Llewellyn shows how much effort joining in requires when everyone expects him to be enjoying himself.

Jon Pointing’s Danny gives Jack someone to feel at ease with. He is straight and laddy, and Rooke finds reasons for the friendship beyond the ready supply of misunderstandings between two different young men. Pointing’s warmth helps, but the writing does not need to make them alike for us to believe they need each other. Our reservation is that Rooke sometimes protects both the characters and us too carefully. A joke could cause more trouble than he allows it to, and the determination to reassure takes some of the bite out of the comedy.

There is a feature-film role too, as Lukas in The Outrun (2024), though that is not where our recommendation begins. Rooke’s achievement in Big Boys depends on knowing what to say himself and what to leave to the actors playing his characters. His narration keeps Jack’s worries close without making those worries the only reason to watch him. Start with the university comedy; a little excessive kindness is a tolerable fault in this company.