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Danny Dyer’s favourite kebab is a doner with chilli sauce. His wife has had total control of their finances ever since they had a particularly huge spat in 2000. And when he was a child, his dad would refuse to hold his hand. These are some of the details I learnt while watching the Rivals actor being grilled by a panel of neurodivergent and learning-disabled interviewers on ITV’s groundbreaking, funny and often moving series The Assembly, where no question is off limits.
The show initially aired as a pilot last year on BBC One, which saw 56-year-old actor Michael Sheen being asked the jaw-dropping question, “How does it feel to be dating someone only five years older than your daughter?”, about his partner Anna Lundberg, who is 30. The format replicates the original French show Les Rencontres du Papotin, on which President Emmanuel Macron was quizzed on whether marrying his high school teacher set a bad example (I should note, questions around age-gap relationships don’t actually appear in every episode).
Tonight, the first full British series of the show comes to a close on ITV, with final guest Gary Lineker following in the footsteps of Sheen, Dyer, David Tennant, and Little Mix’s Jade Thirlwall. These celebs have been interrogated on everything from their flatulence to their rockiest moments, and it’s made for the most life-affirming television in recent memory. Dyer opened the series with his candid, foul-mouthed confessions about being pushed out of EastEnders, being a “p****” to his wife Joanne Mas, and how he deals with anxiety (this ended with him leading a breathwork session for the entire cast). One interviewer, named Caroline, said what everyone was thinking and asked him why he swears so much. And when interviewer Harry told Dyer that he and his mum are big fans, Dyer shot back: “Is your mum fit?”
Tennant talked about the grief of losing his parents, his support of trans people, and learnt how to Vogue like Madonna. Thirlwall warmly discussed being the subject of pregnancy speculation in the media (“Guys, I just had a bit of garlic bread, I’m bloated”), being bullied at school and her memories of the late Liam Payne. And then there’s Lineker, who gets interrogated on his BBC exit, his favourite flavour of Walkers’ crisps and how he dealt with his son George’s leukaemia diagnosis. The stripped-back interview scenario, with no eagle-eyed publicists lurking in the corner or pre-approved questions, makes for a series of illuminating interviews that allow the celebrities to respond on their terms. Not only that, it’s telly featuring neurodivergent and learning-disabled people that doesn’t pander to any overly sympathetic or stereotypical narrative, but celebrates self-expression.
The people behind the British version of the show are executive producers Michelle Singer and Stu Richards, co-owners of the disabled-led production company Rockerdale Studios. When Richards was first brought the idea of optioning the format for UK screens, he wasn’t fussed. “Before we saw it, our initial reaction was, ‘God this is going to be dreadful,’ because we know how TV usually deals with disabled people,” he tells me. “But then we watched the episode with Emmanuel Macron. I was completely hooked. I thought, ‘We have to be making this because it’s unlike any interview or chat show we’ve ever seen.’”
Both of them hope the show has challenged stereotypes about disabled people, but not in the conventional sense. “Our show is not about autism or learning disabilities,” says Richards. “It's about honesty and connection and humanity.” He says their studio’s mission is about making “mischievous content with disabled people”, rather than taking an approach that bashes viewers over the head with statistics and informational messages. “The boring way of doing that is to sit and talk about stereotypes in the actual show and look it in the eye,” he says. “We don't do that. We make an entertaining show. And if it does nice things, then f***ing great.”
Finding that balance, Singer says, is about always checking that their shows – which include Channel 4’s Dine Hard, starring comedian Rosie Jones, and the BBC’s I am Darren, a sports mockumentary about GB Paralympian Darren Silverstone – don’t “tip into mawkishness or the tilty head ‘Ahhhh’ side of things”. “These are people who are excited about the world, who are a little bit naughty and mischievous. That’s the show. It isn’t, ‘Ah, aren't they lovely? Look at people like that,’” she says. Richards adds that it’s about allowing the group the space to show off, when they often aren’t given the chance. “It’s being given agency and power to be the subject of something rather than the sort of object of our sympathy.”
The interviewers also have the power to ask anything they like. The celebrities are all given a short briefing by the production team, but there are no pre-planned scripts or rehearsals. “We tell the celebrities simply to be prepared to answer the questions as openly as possible,” says Singer. “You remind them that there's no trickery here. Nobody’s trying to trip anyone up, and the questions our cast have come up with are genuine.”
Some of the questions posed throughout the series are any showbiz journalist’s dream. Singer remembers the reaction when Sheen was asked about his age-gap relationship for the BBC pilot. “The room sort of went, ‘Ohh, holy s***.’ And so did we, by the way. He had a lovely, thoughtful and considered response to it.” In another setting, a publicist might swoop in to change the subject, but the beauty of The Assembly is that the celebrities are allowed to pause and consider their response when answering the trickier questions. “He took his time,” says Singer. “And so the result of that is that they feel satisfied that they’ve been able to give their right answer.”
The authentic nature of the interviews also disarms the celebrities, and the process has a profound effect on them. In their respective episodes, Dyer, Tennant and Thirlwall are all wiping away tears by the time the cast give musical performances at the end of the programme (covers of “Movin’ On Up” by Primal Scream, the Proclaimers’ “Sunshine on Leith” and Diana Ross’s “I’m Coming Out”). After filming wrapped for Dyer’s episode, Richards remembers the actor seeming “giddy” and having a “sort of tingling, warm and emotional feeling”. Singer says that each celebrity has written to them via their agents to say how impactful they found the experience. Thirlwall even requested the names of each cast member to write them a handwritten thank-you card. On social media, she called it her “favourite interview”.
There’s no doubt that, despite the spicy questions, the interviewees on The Assembly’s first series come off extremely well (and they will surely be basking in the mountains of praise they’ve been receiving online). Richards teases that the Rockerdale inbox is already swimming with celebs asking about future series, but he’s aware that it could be cynically viewed as a good PR move. “[Agents] might think, ‘Oh, I’ll just get my celebrity on a show that they associate with some disabled people and automatically people will think they're great.’ We’ve booked mostly quite nice guests so far, but what would happen if we booked an absolute piece of s***?”
The pair laugh as they mention a few names, one of which is Donald Trump. They would love to get UK politicians involved, too, namely the current prime minister. “If we get a future series of this show, I would love to see Keir Starmer on it,” says Richards, to which Singer adds: “In that environment, we can all tell and rumble somebody who was holding back or lying.”
The cast, too, have been enjoying the reception the series has received. Essin, one of the interviewers who delivered searing questions to Lineker about LGBT+ issues and football, recently left Singer a voice note saying she had been recognised in the street and was asked to take a selfie with a viewer. Richards says that everyone in the cast has been elated. “And Harry’s mum was delighted that Danny Dyer was asking if she was fit,” he says. A result all round.
‘The Assembly’ airs on Sunday at 10pm on ITV1 and ITVX. ‘The Assembly: Unseen’ will air on Sunday, 18 May and is available to watch now on ITVX
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