Esther Smith & Rafe Spall discuss their show Trying. Steve recently binged the Apple TV+ show and it's about to become Preston's new favorite show.
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00:00a warning if you attempt to watch the apple tv plus show trying and you haven't yet you may be
00:08like steven watching an entire season in one night which he did last night the entire first season
00:13yeah in one it's great it's a great show absolutely loving it i can't wait to get into the season two
00:19tonight we have the two stars of the show please welcome esther smith and rave spall thank you so
00:25much thank you for having us thank you for being here so have you guys heard this a lot about the
00:30show that once people start to dive into it that they go in the and do the full binge and just knock
00:35it all out yeah that feels like it's a common theme yeah i think it's just so easy just to just watch
00:41one after the other and it's so nice that you have three series now to well yeah totally to that point
00:47esther you you've worked on the show that's great and and it's tough to get the the word out sometimes
00:52we're just talking you know before we came on about having a quality product that you'd like
00:56people to see so we're going to work endeavor to get people to do that and as i was watching it
01:00and the thing that immediately caught me and i'm sure you probably hear a ted lasso comparison in in
01:06tone these are good people that you like uh that you enjoy watching and you're rooting for you genuinely
01:15feel good you feel legitimate emotion there's no these aren't caricature people they're real
01:20characters and just explain the conceit because i think it's a unique one i've never seen a show that
01:25addresses this topic full-on absolutely yeah so the show is set in london and we have a couple that
01:31have been together for a while that decide that they want to have children they're not blessed with
01:35the natural ability to be able to do that so they uh go down the route of adoption which is a very
01:41involved process uh and the first season is about them being approved by the local authority
01:46and then the second uh season is about them being matched and then the third season is about the
01:52kids that they've been matched with um but you know i think that infertility in in as a subject is
01:59a thing that touches many people's lives right and is perhaps still a bit of a taboo people don't talk about
02:04it that often no um and um you know and as you said these are these are good people trying to do
02:10the right thing and i think most people watching will identify as good people trying to do the right
02:15thing we all think we're good people right so we would like to believe it but you you guys make a case
02:22for it am i my uh everyone here has kids except my wife and i do not and you even address that sort of
02:28stigma of being the people at a party who don't have the kids stories to tell and and all those various
02:32things i think there's something firing in it the legitimacy of the writing and it's it's andy
02:38wolton is the creator and writer he wrote every episode every episode this is the most keyed in
02:45person to the human condition that i've ever uh uh you know i've seen at least i'm not going to tell
02:49him that you said that his head's probably big enough already but there's one episode in particular
02:54that first season it was one that just made me watch the entire season three straight through
02:58um the ex-girlfriend episode where we've all had that situation where um you know uh
03:04uh uh rave you're you have your ex-girlfriend and and you're having this relationship the way she
03:10articulates why did you become the person that i really wanted you to be after we broke up yeah
03:15and it's it's the that's the kind of insight and things that you see that i think we connect to
03:20as we're all massive ted lasso fans in the human condition and no one's a mustache twirling nemesis
03:26and everyone's got their foibles and and that resonates as real and you can watch the show
03:31without feeling you're going to be bombarded with something that's gonna you're going to only
03:35connect to things which is so hard to write and make it funny and and things that are as you said
03:40are kind of taboo but you guys have such a chemistry was there an elaborate process in getting you together
03:49or did it just was a lightning in a bottle um no we um we met three hours before our chemistry
03:57you have a chemistry read right um to see if you have chemistry in front of people that you don't know
04:03with someone that you don't know just to prove that you have this thing called chemistry which i just
04:07think is a mad kind of idea anyway but so we met three hours before to see if we could go through the
04:13scenes and and we just chatted for three hours didn't we it was um yeah it was just such a yeah
04:18it's just an instant thing so i kind of i think we knew that we were okay and in safe hands and so
04:23my wife and i have been with 25 years you know and and uh it's um there are those little subtle
04:30things that little secondary language that you guys sort of project and then you know i don't know
04:35if that's if that's just because you're you're you're such good working partners we actually don't like
04:40each other but it's hard to think though do you know what i'm saying yeah no it is difficult but
04:47we as esther alluded to we just immediately got on and uh it was very clear that we liked each other
04:54as people which is really important because if you're going to be doing a tv show for a long
04:58amount of time like the more i do this the more i realize that the experience that you have making the
05:02thing is more important perhaps than the quality of the finished product because the quality of the
05:07finished product really we have no control over right the only thing that we have control over
05:12as human beings is the fulfillment that we get from being able to do the thing that we always
05:16wanted to as kids which was make tv shows you know um and i get to hang out with one of my favorite
05:22people in the world every day when i'm on set i get to come to philadelphia with her
05:28and uh yeah it's it's really you know i'm so pleased that people like the show and of course like
05:33i've done a lot of shows that people don't like so this is so this is so this is a relief but really
05:38like we have such a wonderful time doing it and it's been such an important part of our lives
05:43and you know the people that like this show love this show well it has a sharp sense of humor too
05:48don't think that it's it has a it has a really um there's a bit of sarcasm there's a bit of stuff
05:54that you would not expect to see joined with this in the way that it is uh there are all sorts of uh
05:58there's a esther you have a particular it happens early on in the first season where you're at
06:03there's a sort of a baby shower i guess or an event going on a lot of babies you're holding the baby
06:07and you're like you've you've decided i'm going to be nasty to this one and she i hope i hope it
06:12doesn't grow up to be a prick uh one of my favorite lines it's just because it's one of those things i
06:17really relate and recognize that i don't know whether she means to say it just kind of comes out just
06:22because she's so filled with this like i guess maybe the unjustness of it or or like she
06:28feels that she's you know she's at a baby shower and she's at that stage in her life where there are
06:33people with babies and children everywhere and everyone's doing the grown-up thing in the
06:37right way that they think that being a grown-up should be and and i just think that these things
06:43come out of her mouth and then it's great it's so funny it is great i love playing that yeah it's
06:48hilarious i almost want to apologize to you guys because i i watched the trailer for the show today
06:53and i'm like this looks really great i i think i can really dive into this and you guys are
06:58three seasons in and i'm just now finding out about it and it's unfortunately the nature of so
07:03many different things of of there are these great shows that exist and there's a glut of as steve was
07:09saying of uh of you know quality stuff that's out there and i'm like i'm sorry man i wish i had
07:14heard about this but it's so great right that's one of the great things about it like i do it in my
07:18everyday life that there's that show with pamela adlon called better things i don't know if you've
07:22seen that show i've heard of it yeah so you've heard of it right like and i'd heard of it and then i and
07:26then i had like four five seasons there waiting for me and it was tremendous um it's fantastic
07:31there is so much quality out there because i guess a lot of the um a lot of the talent that was
07:37involved in the movie making business as in like an exhibition cinema has now moved over to the tv
07:42world like you get movie stars doing tv shows and it's terrific and all these amazing writers
07:47and also the long form of it is is really i think exciting for creatives oh my god it makes such a
07:53difference yeah well listen nobody would ever like when you heard of a movie that was going to
07:57be three hours long you're like oh my god right i can't sit in a movie theater for three hours and
08:01now you'll sit down for five hours or four hours and watch an entire season like man there's only
08:07eight episodes in this season there's only eight hours but we mentioned ted lasso a couple of times
08:13and i feel like i was the first one on this show to watch ted lasso and they were basically working on
08:18season two it was about to be released and it wasn't until like i think um it might have been
08:22like a bunch of emmy or golden globe nominations i'm like what the freak like all right i guess
08:27i'll just give it a try you know and i did and then i fell in love and then i told him and and
08:32preston is very reluctant to watch or listen to anything that i recommend yeah
08:39and then he loved it but like now you're gonna watch trying aren't you i listen to anything that steve
08:44recommends and if steve is going to tell me that that this show is amazing then i'm going to watch
08:49it because this guy right here is like i mean i trust it there's people there are people that i
08:54trust their opinions when it comes to food and then there's people i trust when it comes to like
08:58watching something on tv or in the movies and steve's that guy well thank you also let me ask you
09:02a question because uh important too and again i don't want to keep on bringing ted lasso but we love
09:06the show and we love i love your show and they're gonna love your show uh music plays such an important
09:10part in it and there is a there's a busker that appears uh periodically different but the music
09:17is really wonderful is that all original stuff for the show or am i just not yeah so that buskers that's
09:23maisie peters okay he did um she did our music for series two but she appears in series one as a busker
09:30and then yeah and then she she did the odd track i think and then for series two she essentially did the
09:36whole soundtrack but you know actually so the director of the show we were filming in camden
09:40and he saw this young woman busking yeah um and was like camden england by the way you should check
09:46out camden new jersey shout out camden new jersey you don't think you're back in england visit our
09:53visit our kensington before you leave as well yes i heard it's terrific um and um uh it's quite
09:58similar to our kensington um and um yeah so he sees this young woman busking he's like you're terrific
10:04do you want to be in the show she then subsequently becomes the first person to be signed by ed sheeran's
10:09record label ah and then she opened up on tour for him so then she did the music for the entire
10:13second season but the first season was a great british band um called elbow do you know the
10:17british band he's really cool you should check those guys out they did the music for the fur for
10:23the first season and then the third season is done by a british band called bears den um so one
10:28musical artist does the whole season's music but it plays a big part in the show this this is a show
10:33that makes you feel good in all the right ways and every all the humor which is not telegraphed
10:38comes in the right way and i found myself laughing out loud a number of times because also there's a
10:43whole bunch of people who populate your life uh your friends and family who um deliver the kind
10:49of inappropriate things that friends and family will tend to say to you without realizing you know
10:55you shouldn't have said that and that's what makes it ring so true yeah but it's all with it's all
11:00with love you know like again like it's a bunch of people trying to trying to do the right thing
11:04and and coping with difficult situations with humor which is very human which is something i've always
11:11done you know is when like things are going badly in my life i tend to make jokes um so i think it's
11:16pretty pretty identifiable in that way well early on you're esther your your character of nikki basically
11:21says you know this hell we're going to hell and ham ass this and everything's going to end and
11:24and and basically rafe your your character uh says well well at least you have a plan you know
11:29and then and that's the approach it was funny to us to see again uh you know reactions to shows that
11:36are like this and again sorry for the ted lasso connection but people actually there was this
11:41backlash like well it's it's so it's uplifting and it's there seemed to be a bizarre it makes you feel
11:47good and what's that about and why is it not everything needs to be that totally it's funny i think we're so
11:54used to a lot of doom and gloom that it's actually like feel good maybe such a shock yeah i guess
12:01that's what the issue is but i guess there was a trend for a long time in tv which resulted in a
12:05lot of great tv of anti-heroes like like john ham in madmen like tony soprano people that um uh although
12:13they've got lots of flaws you still root for right so that was a sort of um trope which uh you know
12:18which and shows like us and ted lasso it's like no it's okay to be a good person and it really is
12:24trying to trying to do the right thing um because yeah i think that's how we all identify
12:29you know what though i was trying to with with ted lasso like i was waiting for you know something to
12:35happen where he shows his true self and he and he never did or he always did oh you know what i mean
12:41like i was just waiting for that so yeah exactly well it's the same with these guys like they're just
12:45they're just good people and just cynical uh viewers i guess i would imagine the the community
12:52the infertility people who are dealing with this and they realize are reaching out to you guys as
12:56well yeah absolutely that's what's so lovely about social media because you can have that instant
13:00dialogue with people and the amount of people that have got in touch is is continuous and is
13:05overwhelming people that have either going through infertility or having their particular struggles or
13:11people that are adopting or going through the process you know they the common thing that we
13:17seem to hear is that they just don't it makes them feel not alone in it which i think is so
13:20important it's got to be because it's all about also being judged i mean again these are you're
13:24you're being judged and and and the the question you're asking yourselves is you know as your
13:30characters are well are we are we are we worth it are we really up to snuff or you know you
13:34make a list of the things that are bad about yourself in preparation for this packet of adoption and
13:39oh i look at this now and i we seem to be bad and then you realize no you're good you're good
13:44and that um you know we we sometimes we get judged a lot in life and and sometimes you need to be
13:50reminded no you're you're worth something you know you've got something to offer and that's as
13:55wonderful a message as you're going to find on television right now and you know what i want to
13:59take this moment because nick and i were corresponding with a woman named shelly and i guess we had had a
14:04conversation about ivf not that long ago within the last like year or two and so shelly she thanked us
14:10for having the conversation uh and uh had gone through five and unsuccessful rounds of iu eyes
14:16three rounds of ivf she and her husband uh welcomed the baby boy uh uh miles michael and and that happened
14:23on august 5th so uh so i just wanted to send a congratulations out to her because you know this
14:29this is something that is uh you know happening all over the world and you know people listening
14:33right now are going through it and so uh you know sometimes uh you know really you're not alone yeah
14:39yeah yeah and things do happen yeah and that's it's very it's very cool so that's very heartening to
14:44to hear you know but i think it's like it's a show because you know some people won't be affected
14:48by the issues in it but i think that something that everyone feels is getting to a certain stage
14:52in your life where you feel like something's missing right and that and that's yeah for them it's kids
14:57for others it might be career for others it might be a new partner like a geography like where you're
15:01living but i think that that's something that we all go we get to at a point in our life and we're
15:05like something's missing like something needs to uh something needs to change in my life and and and
15:10in their and in their case it's a kid yeah and i find it like so moving they're wanting to connect
15:17and wanting to connect with a child that they do get eventually matched with um but like i it's
15:22embarrassing to say but i cry watching my own tv show and i don't know whether it's worse to like
15:27be moved by your own work or laugh at your own jokes i don't know what's worse but i
15:32i sit there sobbing at myself in a tv show it's it's it's not good listen to some of the text
15:37coming in it says trying is one of the best shows ever this is uh love the show trying is the best
15:42they play the cutest couple yes uh and uh there's several others just people are saying the same
15:48thing absolutely love trying my wife and i started watching season one when it came out while my wife
15:53is pregnant with her son our first son everyone should watch this show uh so it is on apple tv plus
16:00yeah and now you have the you have many episodes that's that's kind of why i'm happy because now
16:05you know my wife and i love to have our show that we can you know because we do have kids and things
16:10get chaotic and when we can sit down and have that time and they're 30 minute episodes yeah and you're
16:15you're going to feel good you can knock these out uh there is uh currently six seasons in third
16:20episode uh or i'm in this uh six episodes in third season uh they come out on friday yes um and how
16:28many episodes in this particular season the third season eight eight episodes so six comes out friday
16:34coming yeah yeah okay so yeah you'll have this entire three seasons to go through it's all there for
16:40yeah oh it's fantastic yeah yeah and it's just you know people say that the the show is like a sort of
16:44warm bath or a hug or whatever it's just just makes you feel good you know and there is nothing wrong
16:50with that there's nothing wrong with that nothing wrong with feeling good people want to fight feeling
16:54good and and liking people and supporting their quests and their decisions about life you just get
17:00behind it and love these people esther can you say busking again because i really liked it do you know what
17:05as soon as i said it no one's gonna know what i just said busking can you can you tell that because
17:14esther's got a very specific english accent which is from the midlands which is a like an area called
17:20the black country uh and it's very it's very specific it's very specific i don't know if this is
17:25insulting to you're you're adorable and your character you're so legitimately adorable she is
17:32i and it's also because i think of there's there's a line in it's a wonderful life where
17:39where um jimmy stewart's going at uh you know the the the old avaricious uh character in in the play and
17:46uh uh potter and he's saying you know these are the real people that do most of the living and the
17:51dying and and and and you you guys project that you know you work as a customer relations for a rental
17:58car company and yet you're you still you're up when you answer the phone and though that's that's
18:02the common that's the common thing of most people you know and that that's what it means so much to
18:07you know and see you guys go through this so yeah i know i'm i'm i'm but i just thought it was
18:12wonderful i just thought that first they're regular folks as well like they don't have fancy jobs you
18:15know they've got like regular jobs uh nikki um works you know on the phones in a car her company
18:20and you're a teacher i'm a teacher i teach english as a foreign language to foreign students
18:24um and i guess like a lot of the popular culture that comes out of great britain uh in terms of
18:29like richard curtis movies which are great you know but those guys all live in like you know 15
18:34million dollar houses right right pretty fancy lights but these are like regular folk um uh who
18:39don't have a lot of money uh or status or any of that stuff they're just um you know trying to do the
18:45right thing um i just i just finished doing it i was just doing um to kill a mockingbird ah the play in
18:51the west end the aaron sorkin version and there's um a great bit at the end of it where scout says to
18:55the um says to the audience uh you know in terms of like it's like a coda to the play she's like
19:01um trying to do the right thing is the right thing yeah yeah and i and i think that definitely applies
19:07to these characters they're trying to do the right thing they might they might fail they might do it
19:12wrong but they keep trying to be good and i think that's really beautiful that's great again i saw in
19:18one of the trailers uh emelda staunton uh are there any other uh cameos or people that pop
19:23up that we would know she's in it quite a lot she's in it we had her in the studio i have such
19:28a crush on her oh you do fantastic no doubt like the pink outfit that she wears in harry potter
19:34i don't know like i just have it's niche but i like it
19:39she's such a lovely she's such a lovely human she was so much fun to work with and just so like
19:44her part as well she plays this social worker and she she's kind of this dotty character and
19:50she's got so much to say and she's just a pro i don't know how she does it she is a pro do you
19:54remember when you told her to get in the trash can oh yeah she did she did it well she said it as a
19:58joke she was what did you say i said because this trash can is huge and emelda's quite tiny and i was
20:04like get in the trash can she did that doesn't surprise me when she came by here we were expecting
20:11her to be you know fairly proper she was like yeah footloose fancy free goofball having a great
20:18time she was awesome she's cool man and now she's playing the queen yeah yeah the crown the crown
20:24she's now the queen yeah excellent all right well we just we want people i'm this is my new show
20:28it's gonna be my new show you're gonna love you you'll not be disappointed it's called trying it's
20:32on apple tv plus there are three seasons for you to choose from the new season of the new episodes
20:37come out on friday so make sure that you take a look now thank you guys so much thanks for having
20:42us that was fun our pleasure esther smith and rave spall trying