Sometimes a TV show comes along that makes you sob, smile and feel just a little bit more optimistic about the world, and The Assembly is one of those shows.
Last year Welsh actor Michael Sheen, 56, appeared on the BBC pilot, where he was brilliantly grilled by a room of 35 interviewers who were all autistic, neurodivergent and/or learning disabled.
The Damned United and Good Omens star answered questions that cut right to the quick: about what it was like to date someone only five years older than his daughter, the impact Dylan Thomas had on him, what it’s like being turned down for roles, and which two members of the royal family he’d swap out.
It was beautiful, insightful, powerfully uplifting telly, with a few musical numbers thrown in for added joyfulness, and as a result, it caused more than a few tears from viewers at home.
Since that pilot, broadcast for Autism Acceptance Week 2024, The Assembly – adapted from the French series Les Rencontres du Papotin – has moved to ITV for a full series. First to take on the interrogators is EastEnders and Rivals star Danny Dyer.
The 47-year-old Bafta-nominated Londoner says it was “a moving experience” answering The Assembly’s questioners.
“I’m quite naturally an emotional person anyway; I’m very sensitive. I’d been doing a lot of press because [filming took place] around the time of the release of my film, Marching Powder, so I was getting really bored of my own voice, but this revitalised me somewhat,” says Dyer. “It got me excited about being interviewed again.”
Doctor Who and Broadchurch actor David Tennant will appear in episode two of The Assembly, and there are future episodes featuring footballing and sports pundit Gary Lineker and Little Mix member and now solo singer Jade Thirlwall, to look forward to.
Executive producer Michelle Singer says that finding celebrities who are open to the format is a “challenge” but one that has a “beauty” to it. “If that celebrity is prepared to be open and honest and accept that any question is going to come their way, and they should and will answer it, if you go into it with that sort of spirit of openness, it’s phenomenal,” she says. “It’s a rare beast that you are invited to speak honestly about any number of subjects, from the totally nonsense and superficial to the incredibly profound. It’s a rare experience for them, and frankly, that’s a rare experience for any of us, celebrity or otherwise.”
During filming the interviews last for three hours a pop, giving everyone a chance to relax into it, the celebrities included.
The format is, she says, “a real leveller”.
Around the 15 to 20-minute mark is when the celebrities would tend to “get over that hurdle” of feeling pinned on the spot and then their guard would usually drop, making for really striking, affecting exchanges and conversation.
“This was probably the most open and honest interview that I’ve ever given. I trusted everybody in the room, and it took a little while to win everybody over, but I think I did that,” says Human Traffic actor Dyer. “It was very emotional and it was very refreshing, really, to be able to open up about my feelings in front of such a beautiful, intelligent and honest group of people.”
The cohort of interviewers make the show, quizzing the celebs on things you’d never normally hear them talk about, and asking questions those in the limelight might ordinarily avoid when talking to the press, or just refuse to answer altogether.
“The great thing about the cast of The Assembly is that they’re very, very authentic,” says Dyer, known for his role as Queen Vic landlord Mick Carter in BBC soap EastEnders (which he left in 2022), appearing in football hooliganism documentary The Real Football Factories and for 2025 film Marching Powder.
Dyer is slightly worried that being on a show that has the potential to be seen by so many people, could bring problems with exposure. “I do have slight concerns about fame for some of them. The perks are great but there’s also a cruelty that comes with it – especially online,” he muses. “That concerns me slightly, because I really do think this show is going to blow up, and I hope they’re treated with the respect that they deserve.”
Fortunately, the show has been produced by Rockerdale Studios who, alongside ITV, teamed up with national and local autistic and neurodivergent organisations to make sure that everything was set up to make the interviewees feel comfortable, confident and able to participate.
For executive producer Stu Richards, it was particularly important to make sure the show wasn’t patronising in any way. “That’s something that we think about all the time,” he explains. “We just hope that it comes off in the way we hoped, which is [that] people can see these guys, the way they are funny, smart, interesting.”
During filming an access coordinator was hired to sit down with cast and crew to make sure their needs were being met, so everyone felt able to get involved and have the support they needed to do so.
Singer says that was a really important policy, but doesn’t mean they got everything absolutely perfect when it came to equality and inclusion. “We’re really good at what we’ve done so far, and there needs to be more companies prepared to invite that person in as an access coordinator,” she says. “We have to be prepared to mess up and get things wrong. And that’s okay, because if you try and then you adjust next time, that’s how everybody figures it out long term.”
When asked who their dream guest on the show would be, if it was up to Dyer, if he could put anyone in front of The Assembly panel, he says it would be “any politician, because I would like to see them squirming in their seat trying to answer the beautiful questions that The Assembly have.”
The Assembly launches at 10pm on April 26 (Danny Dyer) and April 27 (David Tennant) on ITV1, ITVX, STV and STV Player. Stream on ITVX and STV Player from 7am.
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