Little Britain star Matt Lucas has told a West London Synagogue audience of his dream of creating a Jewish sitcom.
Addressing the 300 people at the charity event on Sunday, Lucas said: “I want to produce a sitcom that will address many of the contemporary issues that affect British Jews such as intermarriage and a decline in observance. I have the provisional title of Four Generations.”
Interviewed by BBC journalist Jon Sopel, Lucas also recalled the challenges he had faced growing up. “I was fat, bald and worried about my sexuality and so I never really felt accepted by society .”
A happier recollection was of his brother and Sacha Baron Cohen, who were both big hip-hop fans. “I used to go to his house and watch them breakdance together,” he said.
Another fond memory was of the footballing abilities of Malcolm Cohen — now a rabbi at West London — who was a fellow Haberdashers’ Aske’s pupil. “The rabbi was an excellent defender,” he said.
An example of the downside of fame was being called by a Sun journalist the day after his father died. “I found that very difficult to deal with and so my mum had to speak to him.”
The evening raised over £6,000 for the Karen Morris Memorial Trust, continuing the initiative of a 23-year-old student who died from leukaemia.
Lucas is a patron of the trust, explaining: “Karen’s mother and mine were very good friends and I knew Karen very well.
“She was a wonderful person and this charity provides a fantastic service to leukaemia sufferers and their families.”
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