Add Neil and Martin’s Bon Voyage to your watchlist
Thirty years ago, as boozy flatmates Tony Smart and Gary Strang in Men Behaving Badly, Neil Morrissey and Martin Clunes captivated the nation. Offscreen, they were already friends, and remain so today. Which is why they’re back together touring France for travel series Neil and Martin’s Bon Voyage. But why reunite now and could they be tempted to make more Men Behaving Badly?
People have tried to get you back together on screen before, so why do this show now?
Martin Clunes Because this wasn’t just a crass illegitimate child of Men Behaving Badly. We’ve been asked to go on a pub cruise around Africa, which was ludicrous – basically wanting to make a programme with Gary and Tony. The fact that it was the 30th anniversary of Men Behaving Badly and that Neil is showing me around France made more sense!
Neil Morrissey We don’t get to hang out very often and this is us bringing our lives up to date with each other. But the premise behind the programme is not only two friends getting together, but me taking him around and showing him some of the fantastic things that are not that far away from where I live in south-west France.
What did you enjoy about making the series in France?
NM People don’t know who we are. I love being elbowed out of the way of the onions in the market by an 80-year-old woman who doesn’t know or care who I am.
MC And who knew you could see the Pyrenees from the Atlantic ocean at Biarritz?
NM That was the best coffee I’ve ever had in my life.
Pullquote quote: If you say something inappropriate today, that's you finishedMartin ClunesNot just coffee — you consume a lot of fine wines in the series…
NM I suppose we’re of a drinking generation. I still love a whisky around five or six o’clock in the evening when I’m prepping my veg for cooking. We’ve got friends coming around this evening, so there’ll definitely be wine as well. But I won’t be pulling out a bong for the 75-year-old neighbours!
Are there plans for any more Clunes and Morrissey on tour in other countries?
MC This felt like a specific mission, but I never say never.
NM We could shoot in Costa Rica and go to the jungle. Then find out what there is to drink in Costa Rica…
Did the huge success of Men Behaving Badly ever put a strain on your friendship?
NM We were having a great time. It pushes you together, rather than separates you. There was no one who was going to suddenly head off and do their own solo gig. No one would say, “I’m leaving the band. I’m going to do an Oasis.”
MC “I’ve got a really s**t album up my sleeve.”
NM And this series confirmed that our long-standing relationship doesn’t need any work.
In this series you discuss your respective childhood traumas —Martin’s at boarding school, Neil’s in care. Were your wild 1990s a response to that?
NM I think the whole of the rest of your life is. The experiences you have when you’re young are always going to fold over into your life later on.
MC Nowadays, people stop and look back and name something that happened to them, and it becomes an almighty obstacle in their path, whereas I just remember getting on with everything. My childhood wasn’t idyllic, but I didn’t have anything to compare it to.
NM I’m no psychologist or psychiatrist. I prefer to listen to my mates, and if I’m a bit out of order, I’d rather they told me than pay £160 to lie on a couch.
[image id="2242932" size="landscape_thumbnail" title="Thames TV Archive" alt="Week 15 Ten Questions" classes=""] Neil Morrissey and Martin Clunes as flatmates Tony and Gary in Men Behaving Badly.Would you be open to making another series — Older Men Behaving Badly, perhaps?
NM Talking about Kylie’s bottom and looking like this?
MC Us silver foxes?
NM If [writer] Simon [Nye] suddenly comes up with something that makes Martin and I go, “You know what, he’s done it again,” then we would consider it.
But do you think Men Behaving Badly would be made now?
MC The world has changed. Social media has made journalists of everyone – there’s no nuance left, everything is polarised. Most of what we said was inappropriate, but it was funny because we’d said it. Whereas now, if you say something inappropriate, that’s you finished, because this panel of judge-journalists on social media will have your guts for garters.
Is risqué humour finished in our culture?
NM It’ll depend on the zeitgeist as to what jokes you’re allowed to make these days without getting flak for it.
MC Everything sort of survives, doesn’t it, though? I mean, look at what Ricky Gervais does. We love that he pushes boundaries. But we were never like that. It was very gentle, Men Behaving Badly.
How would you deal with a huge Martin Clunes and Neil Morrissey backlash?
MC We’ve had our fair share of tall poppy syndrome from various publications. We are in the public eye, so there will be slurs.
NM When they’re building a big fire in Trafalgar Square in the next few weeks with our effigies upon them, we’ll find out.
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