People are like: you're a crackpot': how Sam Campbell became comedy's oddball superstar

A show-within-a-show features an alternative Sam Campbell who plays a pompous director with an empty inspiration well. He invites the public to submit strange movie ideas, which he and a dysfunctional crew develop into real feature films. The process runs inside a shonky reality programme, and each episode ends with the film’s premiere. The films are based on absurd premises, such as a fantasy about a couple who cannot be snakes at the same time, while one partner is always a snake. The production company takes a hands-off approach, and Channel 4 comedy leadership provides trust. Cast members may not fully understand the concept, but they expect it to be funny.

"A show-within-a-show, it stars its creator as an alternative Sam Campbell: rather than his real-life idiosyncratic standup self, he's a pompous director whose well of inspiration has run dry. So he invites the public to share their (invariably bonkers) ideas for movies, which he and his dysfunctional crew then develop into real feature films. This all occurs within the framework of a shonky reality programme; each episode concludes with the film's premiere."

"Think Changing Rooms, but instead of Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen and Handy Andy renovating somebody's living room, it's Campbell and co bringing to life a man called Mick's fantasy about a couple who can't be snakes at the same time, yet one of them is always a snake. In other words, the actual Campbell is the one who has been given carte blanche to turn his own invariably bonkers ideas into reality."

"He claims the production company behind the show were very hands-off partly because they were so busy working on an animated Ricky Gervais series about cats so we sort of got left to our own devices. It helped that Channel 4's head of comedy, Charlie Perkins a longtime champion and collaborator of Campbell's was also very trusting. I don't know if she really got [the concept] when we were first talking about it. When we'd made it, I think she understood it a tiny bit more."

"Even his co-stars didn't really get it. When comedian Lara Ricote, who plays Campbell's people-pleasing assistant Jess, first read the script, she was slightly bemused. Yet she too had faith. As a huge fan turned close friend of its creator, Ricote felt she didn't need to understand Make That Movie. With Sam I trust with my heart that it's gonna be funny."

Read at www.theguardian.com