funny peculiar

GHOSTBUSTING MEETS GUT-BUSTING IN FROST/PEGG’S TRUTH SEEKERS…

- Gabriel Tate

Crowds mill listlessly around a disused Shredded Wheat factory in Welwyn Garden City. A besuited Julian Barratt prowls the crumbling concrete floor with intent. As Nick Frost whispers in the ear of director Jim Field Smith, Malcolm McDowell wanders over. “I’ve never been that keen on Shredded Wheat myself,” he confides. “I found it rather dry.”

It’s an appropriately surreal, unsettling and wryly funny introduction to Truth Seekers, Amazon Prime’s horror comedy following odd-couple broadband engineers Gus (Frost) and Elton (Samson Kayo). Their sideline in amateur paranormal investigation sends them far out of their depth, as they stumble into genuine supernatural mysteries and a conspiracy way beyond their comprehension. Screen has come to watch a spoiler-packed scene from the final episode, and Frost looks delighted with how it’s coming together.

“Writing is gruelling, so any chance to get out of the office and actually do the show feels amazing,” he grins, looking up at us from a low stool before being interrupted by – who else? – Simon Pegg. “You look like you’re being bullied!” laughs Frost’s longtime friend and collaborator. Written by Frost and Pegg alongside Nat Saunders and James Serafinowicz, whose history with Pegg stretches back to classic late’90s sketch show Big Train, Truth Seekers is, like so much of their work, rooted in Frost and Pegg’s shared history.

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