Cast Offs Director Amanda Boyle

At a time when boundaries are being broken and the internet allows everyone to have their say there remains one last taboo - disability. But things are changing. Tomorrow Debenhams will unveil a window showcasing campaign photography using a disabled model – a first on the High Street. And the recent TV series Cast Offs, about a group of disabled people on a remote British island, was truly pioneering. The show has now been released on DVD and we caught up with its director, Amanda Boyle.

Cast Offs must have been a difficult show to get right...
When I first  got involved I was concerned and excited. It's high concept, and I realised it was all about getting the tone right. Then I read the script and the tone was dead on. I felt for the characters - they were flawed, interesting.

How did the project come about?
It was the producer Joel Wilson’s idea and he put together a team of writers including Jack Thorn, Tony Roche ( In the Thick of It ) and playwright Alex Bulman. As the writers came on board it became a character piece, very satirical and mocking TV.

Was it important that you cast disabled actors?
We started casting before the scripts were ready as we wanted to use the actors’ real experiences. We sent them questionnaires so they could talk personally about what they go through. It was more about getting the issues right and lots of things came up.

Like what?
The idea of all disabled people using different senses. The generalisation that if you’re blind, you’ll use touch but actually lots of the blind hate touching people’s faces. Whenever you’re trying to be truthful you have to address those generalisations.

So how did you find the disabled actors? That must have been a challenge.
We knew that we wanted one of the characters to be a wheelchair basketball player, so we emailed teams, went to wheelchair basketball games in London.  When Peter Mitchell ( who plays Dan ) flew in and turned up to the casting it was a wonderful moment. We just knew he was right.

But what would you say to the thousands of trained actors who would kill for a high profile TV job? Couldn’t they play a disabled character?
Some of our actors did come from theatre, film and television. But it would be frowned upon for someone to black up now. I’d like to see more disbaled actors coming through drama school, so the idea of a non-disabled playing disabled would be obsolete.

Were you ever worried about saying the wrong thing to the actors - of offending them in some way?
Yes, I was nervous that I would say the wrong thing,  and a bit worried about how I would behave in workshops. But it was fine.

There was recently a special episode of How to Look Good Naked featuring disabled women, so there is a shift towards breaking this taboo.
I didn’t see the show, but, yes we should be getting a range of actors and characters and stories on TV. It doesn’t have to be crass. I hope we come to a point where we don’t even notice when there’s a disabled person on TV.

But Cast Offs on DVD here