Ryan Sampson: Writing His Own Story
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With Mr Bigstuff returning for a highly anticipated second season, Ryan Sampson talks brotherhood, comedy with bite, and why he’ll always be fascinated by outsiders.
Words - Tajinder Hayer
Photography - Pip Dusadeevijai
Styling - Prue Fisher
Grooming - Tarik Bennafla, repped by Stella Creative Artists
Special thanks to - Public Eye Communications
On paper, Ryan Sampson’s career looks almost impossibly varied: cult sitcom favourite in Plebs, BAFTA-nominated ensemble player in Brassic, guest turns in prestige dramas like The Crown, and now the writer, creator, and star of one of Sky’s most acclaimed comedies, Mr Bigstuff. But talk to him for more than five minutes and a throughline appears. Sampson is drawn, again and again, to characters who sit just outside the margins — the oddballs, the misfits, the men with cracks in their armour.
It’s a fascination born, perhaps, out of his own beginnings. Growing up in a small Yorkshire village, Sampson says, “I had so few friends that I just used to watch and absorb what the people around me were like. Whenever I make a character there tends to be a grain of someone I know well at the centre of it.” Those grains have become some of British comedy’s most indelible creations — from Plebs’ perpetually hungry Grumio (immortalised, bizarrely, in countless calf tattoos across the country) to Brassic’s anarchic Tommo.
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This summer, though, all eyes are back on Mr Bigstuff, which Sampson not only stars in but also writes. Season 1 arrived last year with a sharp mix of warmth and volatility, telling the story of estranged brothers Glen (Sampson) and Lee (Danny Dyer) as they’re thrown back into each other’s lives. Its critical acclaim — and Dyer’s emotional BAFTA acceptance speech, dedicated to Sampson — set the stage for a return.
“Season 2 takes it deeper,” Sampson says. “The first was about them colliding and dragging all this baggage back into the light. Now, they’re on the hunt for their dad — a man they thought was dead. It’s more emotional, more unearthing of old memories and family skeletons. I love playing with that because we’ve all got them, and often they’re weirder than anything you could make up.”
For most actors, playing a lead is enough of a challenge. For Sampson, who also scripts the series, the workload is doubled — though he admits that one role informs the other.
“Normally I’d do a lot of prep for a character,” he explains, “but when you’re writing as well as acting, there isn’t time. The dialogue comes into my head as the character would say it, so in a weird way it’s streamlined. But it’s tight — you write and write and then hope to God it’ll be ready for day one on set.”
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That closeness to the material also helps with the show’s emotional weight. “So much of Mr Bigstuff is based on aspects of my family life,” he admits. “I find it unusually easy to tap into. It feels like I’ve already lived it.”
Central to the show’s success is the combustible, magnetic chemistry between Sampson and Danny Dyer. Their sibling dynamic crackles on screen — Glen simmering with hidden rage, Lee learning to face buried memories — but it’s mirrored by a genuine camaraderie behind the scenes.
“Honestly, it’s like having an excellent big brother,” Sampson says with a grin. “Danny’s hilariously funny, generous, and we all get on so well together. When he did that shout out for me at the BAFTAs I was determined to stay cool, but I immediately just blubbed my eyes out.”
It’s a dynamic that elevates Mr Bigstuff beyond standard comedy fare. There’s laughter, yes — plenty of it — but also rawness, vulnerability, and the recognition that masculinity, particularly in Britain, is often bound up in contradictions.
Sampson is clear about his creative tastes: “I like dark comedy, comedy which has an edge of pathos. I don’t want saccharine and cutesy. You just channel your instincts, and you edit until it appeals to you. That’s the only tool you’ve got.”
It’s an approach that has served him well across genres. From the slapstick chaos of Plebs to the anarchic energy of Brassic, and now the knife-edge tonal balance of Mr Bigstuff, Sampson has consistently walked the line between absurdity and truth.
Those instincts are perhaps most tested when juggling multiple roles. With Brassic returning for a seventh series, and BBC/BritBox’s The Other Bennet Sister on the horizon — in which he plays a socially inept Mr Collins — Sampson relishes the contrast. “It’s fun to have multiple characters on the go at once because it throws them into sharper focus. Tommo is worlds apart from Mr Collins, but that makes it more exciting.”
Still, there are moments of wistfulness. “I’ve realised recently that I’m weirdly going to miss Tommo. We improvise a lot, and he’s become so 3D, almost like a real person. It’s sad to think I won’t see him again.”
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Sampson rattles off career highlights with a mix of disbelief and gratitude. “Danny winning the BAFTA was definitely up there. But then there’s the discovery that there are people with a tattoo of Grumio on their leg. That’s fully bonkers. It’s literally my face, on their calf, forever.”
And while his CV includes stage credits at the National Theatre, the West End, and screen appearances in Doctor Who, The Crown, and more, there’s still an itch to scratch. “I haven’t done a film! I’d quite like to, but I’m not sure I’ve got the face for it,” he laughs.
With such a busy slate, what does success look like for Ryan Sampson right now? “More Mr Bigstuff, definitely,” he says. “But also space to come up with new ideas. Writing Season 2 hasn’t left much time for just dreaming up new plans. I’m looking forward to that.”
As for the dream project? “There is one,” he teases, “but I can’t tell you. Someone might read this and make it into a feature film.”
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What he can share is his hope for Mr Bigstuff’s legacy: “I’ve got this obsession with gender roles — it’s bizarre to me that in this day and age people still feel so constricted. That’s why I wanted to write Glen and Kirsty’s dynamic the way I did, or show these men who look impressive but are actually fragile. If people watch and feel even a tiny bit freer to shake off those pressures, that would mean a lot.”
At 38, Ryan Sampson is both an established name and a restless creative, moving between writing, acting, and producing work that pushes against expectation. Whether it’s oddball sidekicks, chaotic chancers, or deeply flawed brothers, he’s telling stories that reflect something truer, stranger, and more human about the world we live in.
And with Mr Bigstuff’s second season now live,, it seems he’s only just getting started.
Mr Bigstuff seasons 1-2 are available to watch on Sky and NOW.
Follow Ryan Sampson on Instagram.