Prison series Stags walks a tight line between comedy and horror

Actors Nico Mirallegro and Paul Forman say the show has many plot twists, taking viewers in unexpected directions

For British actors Nico Mirallegro and Paul Forman, reading the script for Stags was a thrilling experience.

Is it a comedy? Is it a horror? Or a dark morph of both? Mirallegro, who previously featured in Spy/Master and Our Girl, said the entire reading took him on an unexpected journey.

The new Paramount show, streaming now on TOD, follows a group of friends who embark on a bachelor party (known as a stag do in the UK) to a fictional South American country. After a night of debauchery, the friends are cornered at the airport when one of the men is caught trying to smuggle illegal substances out of the country.

Consequently, the group is sent to a prison that is sparsely guarded, instead relying on a perimeter of landmines to keep its prisoners holed up. Non-prisoners wander around, exploiting the inmates' misfortune by blackmailing them for medicine and communication.

Alongside Mirallegro and Forman, Stags stars a group of up-and-coming British talents including Jojo Macari, Asim Chaudhry and Sophie Lenglinger. From the first episode, it is clear that the series walks a tight rope of maintaining the seriousness of the situation while also letting its cast be darkly funny in their predicament.

On the relationship between the characters in the show, Mirallegro says: “As the series progresses, you really see kind of different dynamics in the friendships and in the personalities of the characters.” The characters are somewhat mismatched, making for funny but tense encounters with the prison population.

The cast of new series Stags. From left, Charlie Cooper, Paul Forman, Nico Mirallegro, Cavan Clerkin, Asim Chaudhry, Corin Silva and Jojo Macari. Photo: Paramount

The show’s main themes are alienation and damaging masculinity, with characters dealing with an aspect of each to varying degrees. Forman plays a Frenchman, Hugo, who attempts to be confident and assured while the group is trying to understand the situation they find themselves in.

“I'm half French. I grew up in London, but I went to a French school," says Forman. "I think some of the character was inspired by people I'd grown up with, but it's also a character that felt a little bit far from who I am. That's always an attractive offer as an actor, to challenge yourself and to play someone who's quite different to you.”

Mirallegro's character Stu is the groom and likewise deals with masculinity and its pitfalls. “I think deep down it's something that Stu is truly struggling with,” he says. “He's constantly having this battle, this internal battle that's simmering inside of him. I think he doesn't love who he is. He doesn't have that love for himself.”

The negative aspects of masculinity are a constant focus, with every character facing a scenario where they do something they think is expected of them rather than what is "right". It's this mindset that lands them in prison and collective behaviour makes the situation harder.

Mirallegro says playing a character like Stu often involves being deep in thought, marinating under the surface rather than showing it to the audience. “There's also the element of not showing a lot of complexities that he has going on,” he adds.

Stag explores many aspects of life in incarceration, from how the hierarchy of a prison might operate to how people get by in such an environment. For Forman, the prison is more like a “theme park” with just as much happening in the background as the foreground.

Asked what makes shows and films set in prisons so fascinating, Forman replies: “It's always interesting to watch people navigate unknown situations and circumstances. I think there's something about the banality of something so extraordinary where you know the stakes feel so high and finding your way around it and how to navigate it.”

Stags is created by Daniel Cullen, whose previous work includes the British show Temple starring Mark Strong. Other stars include Corin Silva, Cavan Clerkin and Oscar Foronda.