27 May 2026 – BAFTA-winning writer, comedian and creator of Channel 4’s Big Boys, Jack Rooke has joined Roundhouse CEO and Artistic Director Marcus Davey for the latest episode of the Roundhouse podcast Making Space, a series exploring arts, creativity, society and what it means to be human.
In a candid and often moving conversation, Rooke reflects on the creative journey that began as a teenager at the Roundhouse and led to two BAFTA wins, a hit television series and a career built on turning stories of grief, friendship and identity into award-winning comedy.
Looking back on his childhood in Watford, Rooke recalls a love of television, storytelling and performance, crediting his aunt as one of the earliest champions of his creativity. “She definitely put a lot of creative investment into me,” he says. “I’m really glad she was with me at the BAFTAs.”
The conversation traces Rooke’s first connection with the Roundhouse through its youth programmes, beginning with the multimedia journalism project Red Top Magazine before joining the Roundhouse Poetry Collective. It was there that he wrote one of his first poems, Lasagna, inspired by the weeks following the death of his father.
“The Roundhouse Poetry Collective was one of the biggest defining moments of my life,” he says. “Not only are you forging young creatives together, but you’re forging young people who become friends and family and peers. It was definitely one of the best things I ever did.”
The episode explores how Rooke’s experiences of grief became the foundation for his breakthrough stage show Good Grief and later informed Big Boys, the critically acclaimed Channel 4 comedy that has resonated with audiences across the UK.
Discussing a pivotal scene in Big Boys, Rooke reveals that one of the show’s most emotional moments is not really about sexuality, but about loss.
“It’s actually somebody saying, ‘There’s this thing about me that I now can’t tell someone I love.’ That, to me, is what that whole thing is about.”
Throughout the conversation, Rooke reflects on the craft of storytelling and the importance of surprising audiences.
“The best thing you can do is subvert people’s expectations,” he says. “Take someone somewhere they weren’t realising they were going, and then somewhere that feels more resonant and truthful.”
Asked what he would do if he were Prime Minister for a month, Rooke speaks passionately about the need to protect creative opportunities for young people and make creativity feel accessible rather than intimidating.
“Encouraging very small acts of creativity leads to bigger ones,” he says. “We live in a world of rewarded excellence, but creativity doesn’t have to be perfect. Some of the best art I’ve ever seen is on a dirty car window.”
Rooke also reflects on growing concerns about the diminishing opportunities available to emerging artists, citing cuts to arts funding, youth programmes and creative education.
“We need young people to become our next generation of artists. We can’t continuously create blocks and harder routes in. We need to create more routes in.”
The issue is one Rooke is helping to address as a commissioner for the Young Creatives Commission, an independent initiative established by the Roundhouse in partnership with the Centre for Young Lives. The Commission is exploring how access to arts and creative opportunities can be rebuilt for young people across England and is calling for the arts to be valued alongside sport in youth provision, as well as for more inclusive pathways into the creative industries. Its final report will be published in December.
Speaking about why he joined the Commission, Rooke says: “I feel concerned about the landscape of the arts right now for young people. Every bit of funding or support that helped me make work and build a career seems to have disappeared. We need young people to become our next generation of artists. We need to create more routes in.”
Towards the end of the conversation, Marcus Davey asks Rooke what the Roundhouse means to him. His answer is immediate and heartfelt. “I think it’s home,” he says. “It’s somewhere where you can be challenged and pushed and experiment and fail and muck up. It’s somewhere where things feel possible.”
The episode comes ahead of Rooke’s return to the Roundhouse this summer with a special performance of Good Grief in the Main Space, bringing the story full circle more than a decade after he first developed the show at the venue.
Making Space is a six-episode series featuring intimate conversations with leading artists connected to the Roundhouse. Previous guests include Daniel Kaluuya, Sir Antony Gormley, Cecilia Knapp and Akram Khan.
The episode with Jack Rooke is available to stream via Roundhouse and all major podcast platforms.