BBC Ladhood: Coming-of-age comedy based in Garforth set to return for series two

The second series of Ladhood, from BAFTA-nominated writer, actor and comedian Liam Williams, will be released as a boxset on BBC iPlayer from August 15, airing weekly on BBC One from August 16.

The coming-of-age comedy charts the highs and lows of teenage life in Garforth in the early noughties, based on Liam's experiences growing up in the suburb.

Picking up from where the last series left off, it follows a young Liam (played by Oscar Kennedy) and his best friends Ralph (Samuel Bottomley), Addy (Aqib Khan) and Craggy (Shaun Thomas) as they navigate GCSE results, driving tests, break ups and his first big night out in town.

Speaking at a live Q&A session today, Liam said: “[In series 1] they were getting into all sorts of scrapes with alcohol, drugs and girls, mental health - and the rest of it.

“There were some fall-outs along the way, but by the end of the series they were back together again - united - ready to face the next stage of their lives."

The show is adapted from Liam's BBC Radio 4 series where he told of his teenage misadventures through monologues and flashback scenes.

Working with producer Joe Nunnery, Liam hopes the second TV series will continue to capture the essence of growing up in the North - bringing lots of laughs along the way.

"In this series, there is more invention," he added.

"The longer the story has gone on, the further away we are from the radio series where it all began. TV requires slightly different story-lining, so we changed out some of the characters and created different rules - still based on a lot of the material from the radio series.

"But now these characters really have a life of their own and their stories have taken their own direction."

From 18th birthday parties to experiments with indie music, series two sees fashions, music and styles change as the lads reach adulthood.

A present-day Liam, who struggles to make his adult romances work, narrates on their misadventures - revisiting his teenage years to pinpoint where it all went wrong.

"I love the nostalgia element, but I didn't want it to simply be a nostalgia show," Liam said.

"I wanted to go further than that, showing how we can learn lessons from the past. That's how we came up with the idea of seeing a timeline where the past has a consequence on the future.

"I found a lot of the people who have said nice things, they are not necessarily my age or didn’t grow up in the north. I hope it continues to have that universal appeal to people and that it reminds them of their own youth - or perhaps what their children are going through.

"And that it makes them laugh."

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