Meet the Wirral writer behind huge hit ITV Scouse comedy G’wed

When Wallasey writer Danny Kenny sent off his first script for G’wed, a comedy all about a group of Liverpool teenagers, he had high hopes but no big expectations.

After seeing previous ideas fall down, even when they’d been optioned by production companies, his main aim was to finally get his work on screen.

But now G’wed has just gone into series 3 on ITV2 and ITVX, picked up awards nominations including three from BAFTA, and reached almost 7 million viewers since it first aired in 2024.

Danny admits:

“When we started the first series I thought that would be it, I didn’t think there’d be any more,

“so to get to second and third series and for people to still be liking it is great, it really is.

“I’d been trying to get a script away for about 10 years, sending off stuff, but with this the good thing was I found a producer Mario (Stylianides) who’s got my sense of humour, and the same kind of heart for a story, so when I was working with him I definitely felt this script was stronger because of him.

“I thought it had more of a chance than the others, but you don’t really think anything more than that. You think maybe it’s just going to be the same as the last 10 years.

“With G’wed I went back to that thing of writing what you know, and being from Merseyside I know the humour, and I’ve obviously been a teenager lad, so I felt this show was my best one.  It was more me on the page.”

40-year-old Danny says some of the themes in G’wed were similar to his own experiences growing up.

He said:

“Especially with series 1, I wanted to reflect my childhood a bit, which was more fun and not the working class portrayal we sometimes see,” he explains.

“Young people in Liverpool now have got ambition, they can do anything they want to do, so it’s about making the characters well-rounded and challenging stereotypes.

“Sometimes we’re all a little bit of a stereotype, but I wanted to try and make the point that each character, like in real life, is so much more than that. They can be a bit flawed but they’re all a combination of many things

“For example, with Reece you think at first he’s this cheeky chappie, but he’s actually got so much more ambition and depth and intelligence. 

“Reece is more intelligent than he lets on and I think that’s so true of a lot of young people today; they try to hide that for some reason behind the bravado of not being interested in anything else apart from girls or drinking or whatever. We all know there’s more to them but they don’t want to show it. 

“Getting three series has definitely allowed us to keep growing the characters. For example with Connor in the first series he’s funny but he’s mostly about fancying Reece’s mum. I think in the second series he’s on more of a serious journey with his girlfriend which showed a different side of him.”

Danny says having a talented young cast has been a big part of the show’s success. Dylan Thomas Smith, who plays Reece, picked up Best Breakthrough Performance at the 2024 Edinburgh TV Awards and a 2025 BAFTA nomination for Best Male Performance in a Comedy.

Danny said:

“Our casting was led by Harry the casting director, along with me and Mario, and we were so lucky everything just fell into place,” says Danny.

“For a lot of the actors, they were local and it was their first job so I think that gives a realism to the characters because they’re raw and they were passionate and wanted to do well. They’re still like that now so we got so lucky and Harry did a great job finding them.”

Viewers have genuinely warmed to the characters as their stories have unfolded, and the Scouse humour has certainly helped that, although Danny admits he has to be careful not to overdo it.

He said:

“We always have the struggle of how much to use Scouse language because it is so unique. We don’t want to alienate the rest of the country so they’re going ‘what does he mean by that?’ You can’t make it completely hardcore Scouse because you want people to still get what’s going on with the story but I think we’ve hopefully got the balance.”

Critics love G’wed as much as fans, and there’s been several comparisons to The Inbetweeners. So, does Danny like his series being described as a Gen Z version of the noughties classic?

Danny said:

“I do and I don’t,”

“I do in the sense it was a great show that everyone knows and I really liked it myself but I think there’s more to our show.

“Sometimes people might look at it and think it’s lad banter and just that, but anyone who watches it will see we actually deal with a lot of harder hitting issues and I don’t think Inbetweeners looked at those. 

“I think that’s what people like about it, especially younger people, because they see a little bit of themselves in the characters.”

Watch all three seasons of G’wed here.

Get the latest Liverpool television news here.

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