How Stephen Merchant brutally cut his own family from third series of The Outlaws

The creator of The Outlaws has admitted to brutally cutting dialogue spoken by his own parents from the upcoming third series of the BBC comedy.  

Ahead of the new season of the sitcom, which airs next week, Stephen Merchant, 49, has shared why he chose to make such a cut-throat decision. 

The series sees a group of misfits in Bristol who attempt to keep out of trouble after finishing community service sentences, having previously fallen foul of the law.

Part of the inspiration for the series came from his parents, who worked as Community Payback Supervisors. 

As a result, Stephen has revealed that, although he wanted to involve his parents in the newest season of the show, he was not able to do so.

Ahead of the new season of the sitcom, which airs next week, Stephen Merchant, 49, has shared why he chose to make such a cut-throat decision (pictured this month)

After casting his mother and father as extras, he has revealed that he cut all of their dialogue in the final edit.

He told The Sun: ‘They did have a little bit of dialogue, which unfortunately I had to cut, I don’t think I’ve told them yet!’

‘Not because of their performance but because of time. My mother will be like: ‘We want to be extras, why can’t we be extras?’

However, his mother still makes the cut in one clip, as they appear on the computer screen of his character, the socially awkward lawyer Greg Dillard, as he attends business meetings. 

He added that the character of Dianne, who is played by Baby Reindeer star Jessica Gurning, was inspired by his mother, something that Steven said she was very happy to hear. 

Stephen also said that his mother was extremely nervous after having initially been cast as an extra in the show, whereas his father was keen and ‘gung-ho’ after being on set for his son’s show. 

Speaking to BBC News about his mother’s role as a community supervisor, Stephen said she was often cautious, as he recalled: ‘My mother was always careful, she would say, ”I can’t tell you about specific cases…” as if it was sensitive information and I couldn’t be trusted.

‘But here and there, not naming names, she would talk about some of the people that came through the doors. I was always intrigued because it was such a mix of people.’

The Outlaws airs on Thursday May 30 at 9pm on BBC1 One and BBC iPlayer

Stephen added that the character of Dianne, who is played by Baby Reindeer star Jessica Gurning (pictured), was inspired by his mother