Peckham Mix, a lighthearted gay comedy series starring actor George Turner, will begin streaming on Dekkoo, the first subscription streaming service dedicated to gay men, on June 15.
The film is about a man struggling to find new direction in his life after being dumped by his boyfriend. Turner’s character Josh moves into a new flat on Weston Street in Peckham, with colourful new roommates, Rex (Kane Surry) and Connor (Janak Nirmal), who mysteriously leave the house each night. Josh’s curiosity into his roommates’ inexplicable 1am excursions lead him to potentially deadly consequences.
Peckham Mix is created and directed by Marco De Luca, produced by Cédric Andries and executive produced by Brian Sokel and Derek Curl.
“Peckham Mix is a tale of new beginnings that explores loss, life’s inescapable changes and the bias many of us carry in our rush to judgements,” says Marco De Luca, who, in addition to producing, also directed and created the series. He came up with the idea while on a Sunday walk in his Peckham neighbourhood when he noticed a group of unlikely friends chatting in the street. “They looked and behaved so differently from one another,” he remembers. “It gave me the idea for a bromance between three very different characters who wouldn’t normally associate with one another if it weren’t for some unusual circumstances.”
Rex is grumpy, coarse and brash. While he plays his cards close to his chest, there is surprisingly more depth to his character than one assumes. Connor, on the other hand, wears his heart on his sparkly neon pink sleeve. Separately, they are polar opposites, but together, they are like an old married couple whose personalities bounce off each other to create a wonderfully amusing pair.
“Initially, I would not choose to be roommates with Rex and Connor,” admits George Turner who plays Josh in the series. “But I would eventually come around to the idea as they are both real growers with infectious qualities. Their good hearts would win me over.”
George Turner grew up in a small town near Brighton. After high school, he studied acting at Drama Centre London. While he is best known for his stage work, he says he was drawn to the series because he related to his character. “Like Josh, I have navigated through breakups and have had my share of horrible flat mates,” he laughs. “I have also experienced having the rug pulled out from underneath me, hitting rock bottom and being forced to find my own route through life’s rubble. Looking back, I have found that it is through the obstacles that I have grown the most.”
Marco De Luca agrees: “I hope that after watching Peckham Mix, viewers see that purpose in life comes in many different shapes and forms, and that taking the time to look beneath the surface of the people in our lives can challenge our belief systems and reveal unexpected blessings.”
He says Peckham Mix is different from anything he and his co-producer Cédric Andries has done before. “We usually make horror films and thrillers. Making a comedy was refreshing.”
“Peckham Mix is a tale of new beginnings that explores loss, life’s inescapable changes and the bias many of us carry in our rush to judgements.”
The series is not their first LGBTQ+ project, however. They worked together on the short film, Jackplot. De Luca also shot the short film Two Metres Apart that won a Dekkoo award and Andries worked as a costume supervisor on Harry Styles’ My Policeman and produced The Latent Image, an LGBTQ+ thriller directed by Alexander Birrell.
Andries recalls the long auditioning process for Peckham Mix: “Kane stood out as Rex, first and foremost for his physicality. He got the role of the English derelict down to a T from the start.”
“Janak is at the beginning of his acting career and so there’s a freshness and an excitement in him that I found to be really inspiring,” Andries continues. “As for George, our sweet ingénue, he is the perfect balance of comedy and drama.”
Filming for Peckham Mix took place in London in December 2022. It wouldn’t stop snowing which made the exterior scenes difficult to shoot. “We viewed it as metaphor for the series,” says Marco De Luca. “Our weather woes were tragic, but somehow funny. Unlike Josh, the cast and crew on Peckham Mix knew our purpose and it was to get this quirky little comedy series in the can.”
Peckham Mix premieres on Dekkoo on June 15. For more information, CLICK HERE
You must be logged in to post a comment.