I TALK TO Ashley Storrie

"I’ve always found it really easy to verbalise feelings, but not emotions."

Glaswegian comedian, writer and actress Ashley Storrie is one of television's most refreshing voices, using her lived experience of being autistic to inform her hit BAFTA-winning BBC comedy Dinosaur, which she co-created with Matilda Curtis and returns for a superb second series today on BBC Scotland, and from Saturday on BBC Three.

Dinosaur is about sisterhood, love, friendship and being yourself, no matter how uncomfortable that might make others, and in series two, Ashley's character Nina finds herself thrown into an awkward feelings triangle between Lee and an unexpected new arrival.

At the start of series two, we meet palaeontologist Nina eight months after the end of series one, knee-deep in mud on an Isle of Wight dig site, living her palaeontology dream. Or at least, that’s what she tells herself.

Truthfully, she’s exhausted, missing Glasgow, her family, Lee - oh, and her home comforts, namely Real Housewives marathons with Evie and Sausage rolls. When she finally returns to Scotland, she finds that everything has changed.

Aside from her awkward feelings triangle, Nina's workplace has moved, there’s some big McArthur family news, and whilst she has learnt to handle change, how will she cope with so much change, all at once?

I recently caught up with Ashley to discuss the reaction to series one, the challenges of writing an autistic character, what it was like to win two BAFTAs, and so much more!

We didn't get the chance to speak for series one, so I'd love to know a bit about how Dinosaur came about.

So, Dinosaur was a pilot written by Matilda Curtis. It had nothing to do with me. I read this pilot, and I was like, whoa, that feels really close to who I actually am. That's really weird.

The character was really into fan fiction, and she was making references about My Immortal, which was this really niche fan fiction that I'd done a YouTube series about. And I thought that's so weird.

She (Nina) was an English girl in her twenties, and I was a Scottish lassie in her thirties, but I recorded a self-tape anyway, and I was really lucky that they saw it. There was a moment in time when we didn't think it was going to go beyond a pilot, but then a couple of years later, Hulu got involved, and BBC Three got involved, and I was asked to come on as a creator, writer and producer. Ii was like "What?! Okay."

That's what I studied for. I studied filmmaking. I didn't study to be an actor. It was such a backwards way of getting into the job you want to do, but it worked.

The reaction to series one was so positive. Especially from those who felt seen by watching it. Were you pleased by just how well it was received and that you got a second series?

Of course. But the only way it could have been true that people felt seen was to just be authentic and not add or take away anything. This is my experience of this thing, and there's a reason there's a spectrum.

You can't represent the whole spectrum, but I can represent a version of it that I know is true to me, and hope that people see not the whole rainbow, but wee bits of their colour in there.

That feels good. That's one of the most fun things about telly, it's seeing yourself ina character that maybe isn't like yourself, and just seeing that shade. That's the fun part. To get to do that is magic, and the response we got was so nice, but this is telly, sometimes things can have marvellous responses, but it just doesn't happen.

You have to gird your loins for that and not be too sad when it doesn't happen. But the fact that we got a second series was phenomenal and dead exciting.

How would you best describe Dinosaur?

It's a cosy comedy about love and friendship, and trying to make connections, when, as an autistic person, you struggle with connections. I think that's the main thing. Nina just wants to feel connected to people, but she just doesn't know how to start.

She's in a comfortable place with her family; they're her connections, but she was born with them, so she doesn't have to make those new feelings. But then some characters come in like Lee, or Ranesh, or even the people at her work, like Declan,

Season one is not about romance; it's about making connections with people, and then season two, she's made her friends, now she's leaning into the world of romance, and what does that mean? How do you navigate that when you don't really understand people or their motives?

Let's mention the love triangle, or as the BBC are describing it, an awkward feelings triangle, which I love. What can you tell us about that?

I have always loved that trope in romance books or in romcoms, of the love triangle. But it's never really made sense to me. Because usually, one of them is really bad. In Bridget Jones' Diary, Hugh Grant is a terrible choice. Why is that even an option for you? He's awful! But there is that "Will she, won't she?" - well, she shouldn't! But also... the other guy read her diary, so I don't like him either.

So I wanted to play with that, but have it be two nice guys, and not be about whose team you're on. It's more like this is a new experience, and how do we navigate our feelings for people? And how do we feel out our feelings for people?

One of the things about autism that's not ever really discussed is that we get these big, intense feelings really quickly, and it feels really real. It's like lovebombing ourselves in our minds. Hyperfixating on a person, "I love him, and everything about him is great", and then a week later, that wears off, and you're like "Oh no! What have I done?" I've really locked into this thing that wasn't real.

When you're writing an autistic character, the nice thing is that a lot of people can hear the questions that they've thought but not asked. Because they've not felt comfortable enough to ask. And Nina asks the questions. That's the fun thing.

What else is Nina up to in this series?

She's got work, she's trying to find out where she stands in work. The subtext is that there's a lot of push, of being a boss bitch and a badass, but what does that actually mean? And how do you achieve that? Is staying in your comfort zone the worst thing? So when to push yourself and when to pull yourself back.

Which is something I constantly struggle with. It's something I feel all the time. I know that there are things that I should do, so I push myself to do them. And then I know some things would be good to do, but would be more harm than good to push myself to do them. I'm never really making the right decisions.

So it's always about working out that fine line of pushing myself, but not breaking myself.

I've got to talk about Greg Hemphill. A true comedy legend. What's it like having him play your dad in Dinosaur? Did you always have him in mind?

Yeah, I knew from the moment this was getting cast that Greg was who I wanted to play my dad. He came to my school when I was 17 and did a speech, and brought scripts from Still Game.

I did not fit in at this private school. It was horrible. I'd just been sent there as a new girl. I'd never been in a co-ed environment before. So I'd never been at a school with boys before, and was deeply uncomfortable.

It was a private school, but I worked in a fish and chip shop after school, and on weekends I worked at my parents' comedy club. I couldn't go out and go to parties, and nobody really liked me. I was very odd and smelt of salt and vinegar all the time.

Anyway, he came in with these scripts and asked if anybody wanted to come and have a go, and I went "Me! Me! Me!", because I wanted to be part of the comedy and TV environment so badly. He asked me my name, and I said "Ashley Storrie", and I remember one of the boys behind me making fun of my slightly scummier accent.

So I read Isa as Isa, and I did it so good. I remember everybody in this room, who had no concept of who I was, or what I did - they didn't know I went to the Edinburgh Fringe every year, they didn't know I was making YouTube videos for my mum and editing podcasts - they all roared with laughter. Greg turned around and said, "I'll give you a job when you leave school."

He didn't give me a job when I left school, but I gave him one. So I knew in my soul that that's who I wanted to play my dad, and he's great. He's fab. He's so funny. And so up for doing anything you throw at him. That's a joy.

One of my favourite characters in Dinosaur is Declan. And there's a beautiful moment between him and Nina in episode five that I just adored. I thought it was so beautifully written.

Aw, thank you. I loved writing the scene with Declan and Nina in this. It was something that I knew I wanted to do. I love writing Declan, and I love spending time with Jim (Kitson), so it's always fun to do.

Jim (Kitson), who plays Declan, is one of my best friends. I adore him. I love spending time with him. He's also neurodiverse, so there's a lot of time when we're standing aside having very autistic conversations with each other and being very comfortable. He's always a very good person to tell me to advocate for myself and stickup for myself. I adore him.

Did you find series two easier to write, or more difficult?

It was neither easy nor hard. I love writing, and I'll happily throw anything at a wall and take notes and rewrite and rewrite and rewrite. I grew up writing fan fiction, like masses of it, so writing fast and then getting feedback, it trained me for that. So for me, it's a fun process.

It was more that I was surprised to get a first series. Getting a second series is a delight. I'm so jazzed that I get to make telly. I love telly. It's my favourite thing, and getting to make it is a dream come true. So any wee morsel I get, I'm so excited and happy.

How about writing an autistic character whilst also being autistic? Does that come with its own challenges?

There are challenges, I'm going to be honest here. Writer Ashley does not care about actor Ashley's feelings. And actor Ashley hates writer Ashley, because we'll come to film stuff, and I'm like, "I hate this and find it deeply uncomfortable", but I know it's good for the story, so I have to deal with myself in my head.

So that's always slightly complicated, but - and I don't want to call it "my gift" - but I've always been able to verbalise how I feel in different ways, that aren't very traditional, but make sense to me. And then I can make it make sense to other people.

I think that's because my dad was diagnosed before me, but I had always been his carer, so I was always trying to explain to people how my dad felt. And make it make sense to other people. I've always found it really easy to verbalise feelings, but not emotions.

What did you lean into more when writing series two?

I really leaned into big group scenes this season, and I had no idea that those are the hardest things in the world to film. I didn't have any concept of that, so I was just like I love a joke joke joke joke joke, everybody gets a funny bit. I love an everybody gets a funny bit scene. I love those scenes in the office where they're all sitting around, and everybody gets a bit.

We had the exact same budget and time for season two, but I had made everything so much more complicated. And I had no concept of that until it was done and I had handed in the script. Niamh (McKeown), the director, was just staring at me like "I hate you", and I'm like, "I'm so sorry."

We had to do it in the same amount of time. We didn't have any extra days, so it was nose to the grindstone every day, but I think they look great. I think they look cracking. I love watching people's faces in the background.

Nina has a lot of big decisions to make in this series. What are some of the biggest decisions you've ever had to make?

Deciding to do stand-up comedy when that was something that I was being really pushed towards, and I'd been really reticent. I'd done it as a kid, and then I'd stopped and didn't want to go back to it.

And then it was that thing where I knew I could do it, and I knew it'd be fine, but I didn't want to, because everybody was telling me to. And I've got this defiant streak in me, which is why I've never watched Breaking Bad. Because everybody told me to.

Deciding to focus on my career, in lieu of family obligation, was a big thing, but I mean, it's what my parents wanted, and I think they were right. That's something that I've always done. So that kind of stuff. Mostly work stuff.

I don't really like making decisions. I've never changed my hair colour. I've never had my ears pierced. I don't really do that kind of thing. I've dressed the exact same since I was 15. All that other stuff makes me very anxious.

Any moments from this series of the first that you look back fondly on?

I will always look back fondly on filming in Rothesay for season one. I worked there during the summers as a kid in my uncle's pub. I told all the gang that I was banned from the arcade, because I was too good at the claw machine, and it was watches you could win out of it. I would clear the machine out in a day so the guy banned me from it.

People didn't believe me, so we went into the bar when we were filming the hen party, and the bar manager was the man who used to own the arcade, and he was like "You were banned!" and I was like "See! It's true! He's here!" But we had such a great time.

And then this season, just getting to work with the cast again and getting to work with Hyioie (O'Grady), who was new to us, was fab. It was great.

As a proud Glaswegian, what's it like filming Dinosaur in Glasgow?

Filming in Glasgow was a joy. I love my city. I think it's one of the best cities in the world. I know Nina says that a lot, but that is 100 per cent me, I love Glasgow. There's a reason why I've chosen to stay here. And a reason why I try to pull as much work here as possible.

I love our crews. I love our industry. I love how beautiful our city is and how when we're filming, people will come up and go "Is that you making another Dinosaur Ashley?" and talk to you like I've known them my whole life.

It's a joy to live here. It's small enough to be intimate. And big enough that it feels big. It's the Goldilocks of cities, it's perfect.

And finally, congratulations on winning two BAFTAs for series one. Your win came just days after sadly losing your wonderful mother, Janey Godley. What was that moment like for you?

It was really weird. There's no way of saying it. That night was an incredibly strange experience. The whole night was very much about her. Edith Bowman did a lovely tribute, and people were thanking Mum in their speeches. I think shegot thanked more in other people's speeches than she did mine.

All the journalists wanted to talk about her, and what she would have said, and the truth is, she would have loved that it was about her. She was a big attention seeker, and that would have tickled her pink that, of all of the things, she was the star of the night.

The thing is, we knew. There's a clip in my Radio 4 series, that we had recorded before she died, where she says, "I'm going to wait until something big is happening and that's when I'm going to go." I even say the word BAFTA. And I knew. We both knew. She had impeccable timing, right up to the end.

Dinosaur is available now on BBC iPlayer and Saturdays from 10pm on BBC Three