Jack Rooke’s award-winning Big Boys returns for a third and final series on Channel 4

Sometimes extraordinary things happen. Just ask Jack Rooke, the writer and creator of semi-autobiographical sitcom Big Boys.

“Ten years ago I took a rather ramshackle comedy-theatre hour about grief and friendship to a damp cave at the Edinburgh Fringe and never thought a decade later it’d be a silly, sweet sitcom about a lad’s lad and a dweeby gay becoming best mates,” smiles the comedian. “My therapist (a close lesbian friend) suggested that Big Boys is subconsciously about me not being able to say a proper goodbye to certain people or periods of my life, and so to give this show a final send-off is a huge honour.

“I’ve known the ending since the pilot, and I hope it still represents those first Edinburgh shows but also the collaborative genius of our incredible cast, crew and creative team. I’ll be indebted to them always for giving me the funniest, happiest years making Big Boys.”

Yes, sadly, after three wonderful seasons, we’re about to say a tear-stained farewell to young Jack, Danny and the rest of the gang.

For Rooke, that goodbye is a bittersweet experience: “I feel very lucky and grateful, but I cannot lie, I’m really relieved [it’s over]. I wrote, filmed, edited series two, handed it into Channel 4, and wanted to have a couple of months off, a holiday, a break, which ended up just being one week.

“When I came back, the contract was on the table and it was like, ‘You need to start writing series three immediately.’ Series three begins with the gang on holiday, which one could argue was perhaps also so that I could see the sun for a couple days of our shoot!”

Rooke admits that watching aspects of his life occur on TV has been surreal, but is keen to point out that not everything that’s happened on screen really happened – some artistic licence has been adopted.

“We make space in some scenes for improv and ad-libs which are really fun to watch play out. I luckily have a lot of creative control over the edit, so I have accepted what personal stories are in the mix by the time it’s on air. And then, thankfully, I feel very lucky Big Boys has found a loving, dedicated fanbase.

“But for this final series, who knows? I have to accept that some people might not love what we’ve done. For others, I hope they feel it’s the correct last chapter.”

Now Rooke’s characters are about to leave uni and start their adult lives, which means it’s time for him to move on too.

“Big Boys feels like a culmination of 12 years’ worth of work. Ever since I was 18, performing comedy, weird storytelling, poems, things like that, I’ve been talking always about grief and loss and loneliness, but also trying to make jokes and have really funny, specific, niche, silly stories be the vehicle for that.

“Now I can write something completely different and try and figure out what other stories I want to tell and have a bit of a new start. Maybe I’ll write the gangster movie I’ve always wanted to…”