Being Victor: Scotland's Answer To Skins!

The first thing that springs to mind when someone says teenage drama is Skins. The Bristol-based programme is all about the sex, the drugs and the partying but after three years it’s about time for a more sophisticated approach to the most prominent issues of today’s younger generation. Scotland’s answer to this is Glasgow-based show Being Victor and at the end of series one star Jordan McCurrach took some time out to speak to Student Punch about adding a light touch to some serious subjects.

“Being Victor was originally an online drama series from Shed Media Scotland,” explains Jordan, who plays the main character’s best friend Doyle Sinclair. “It is basically a teen drama that touches on and raises a lot of issues that teenagers are going through but doesn’t do it in a patronising way. It has a bit of humour to it and hopefully characters that can be related to in some way.”

In Scotland today there are a lot of different issues that affect today’s youth. It varies from bullying and cyber-bullying to coping with ill parents, sexuality issues and drug and alcohol abuse. The characters in Being Victor all have problems that they have to deal with: “It’s got sexuality and young carers. I’m trying to think of all the characters here,” says Jordan.

“The show is basically about Victor who’s a fictional person. He’s the main character, Vinnie Dupe’s, alter ego and he’s written a blog. It’s basically what he blogs, like a Gossip Girl type thing, and he posts stuff about people. It’s about the controversy surrounding that and I guess one of the other issues here is social networking websites, which are massive in this day and age, so it’s good to realise that although they are great sometimes people can be harmed by what is posted.”

Jordan has starred in other television shows such as the BBC comedy pilot, The Adventures of Daniel, and is also one of the leads in new Fiver series Push. As well as this he had a part in the new Taggart series for STV as PC Bridge but his role as teenager Doyle Sinclair seems a lot more demanding: “Doyle is at school and is dealing with sexuality issues in terms of finding his sexuality. He’s been going on a lot of online websites to meet up with guys,” says Jordan.

“I think he’s looking for affection because he didn’t have a mum and he’s a carer for his dad who has MS. They don’t really get on because his dad obviously doesn’t like his son having to look after him which is quite sad. As well as that, because he’s getting a bit mixed up in drugs and looking after his dad, he is kind of missing out on college work so he gets thrown out half-way through the series. Then he has a bit of a scare with an STD so his life is turned upside down for a couple episodes.”

With his character having a bit of a rough ride, Jordan says he has a technique to portray such angst: “I think in any part you have to try and get your mind into the character; you have to relate to certain times in your life or certain times in your friends lives. If you’ve witnessed something you have to get inspiration from that. I don’t have a parent that has MS and I haven’t struggled with half the stuff that Doyle has but I’ve had my own problems so you can kind of put it in a perspective and tackle it that way. It’s Doyle’s friends that keep him together so I think friendship is a strong theme in the piece.”

With the high-tech culture of today’s youth, making people aware of issues through the media of internet and television is ideal. Being Victor originally aired online on MTV.co.uk as seven to ten minute episodes twice-a-week before making a move onto STV for six half-hour episodes. Jordan believes that making TV shows that people can relate to is a significant part of today’s society: “I think it’s really important how they [the issues] are dealt with because as soon as you try to patronise someone they lose interest whereas if you excite their imagination into having their own thoughts about it that’s when you see results.”

So what’s next for Being Victor? Now that we’ve seen the first series will there be anymore to excite our imaginations? “We don’t know yet,” teases Jordan. It’ll be into the New Year before we find out so we’ll have to wait and see.”

You can catch Being Victor online at www.mtv.co.uk/shows/being-victor and now that the series has finished on STV you can catch-up on STV Player.

by Samantha Taylor