The Observer - Spaced out again?

Despite being hungover, Simon Pegg and Jessica Stevenson display the kind of chemistry that made their sitcom Spaced so successful even as they slouch over a Channel 4 boardroom table to talk up series two. The co-stars, and co-writers of the smart, yet weird, twentysomething comedy bounce around theories as they explain the difficulties of replicating what was a surprising critical success. Not that any minor slight went unnoticed. As Pegg says: 'The Daily Star put us in their Turn On Switch Off box and that hurt.'

But most of the critics and several million viewers appreciated the tale of Tim and Daisy, a boy and a girl who meet in a caff and decide to solve their flat-hunting nightmare by pretending to be a professional couple. Fantasy sequences and film references abounded, but at its heart Spaced was a 'will they/won't they?' romantic comedy that explored gender politics. A sort of Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus dramatised by Harold Pinter and set in Tufnell Park.

Stevenson, an actress who is most familiar as Cheryl in The Royle Family, and Pegg, a former stand-up who starred in Hippies and Big Train, first met at an audition for an Anglia Television sketch show. Their rapport was almost instant. Says Pegg: 'Jess threw a bottle of water over me in a bus.''I was just being nasty and rude,' admits Stevenson, 'he was lovely then, much more pudgy.'

'I thought, "I really like you",' says Pegg, 'because you were really funny.' This was six years ago and they have since worked together on a Paramount Comedy Channel sketch show called Asylum before they were asked to write the sitcom that turned into Spaced. That first series was two years in gestation and the second was written in seven months. They admit to feeling more pressure this time around and while keeping the same core characters have opted for a more action-packed feel.

Says Stevenson: 'We made this conscious decision to progress stylistically from the first by making it more plot-led and more adventurous and ambitious. There were more quiet moments in the first series and they were enjoyable, but they're not as gripping.'

The series starts with a tanned and healthy Daisy returning from travelling and Tim getting sacked from his job in a comic shop. They're still slackers, although they shy away from that word. 'In fact they have enormously exciting lives,' says Pegg. 'Mike and Tim get on Robot Wars this time around.' And Daisy?' Daisy, while still pining to be a journalist, is forced to seek actual employment while Tim gets a small break as a graphic artist. They both see one of the major points of the show as exploring the extra leisure time granted to twentysomethings.'

'It's about the wilderness they're in,' says Pegg, 'this extension of your youth where suddenly you don't have to make the choices your parents made and you've got this kind of extended holiday where you can play computer games and not be regarded as a child.'

'There are positive aspects to that change,' takes up Stevenson, 'but there's a mystery to it and we don't know how this generation will define themselves.'

'With this Ecstasy thing as well,' says Pegg, 'I think in about 30 years' time this generation is just going to be a bunch of lonely depressed people wondering, "What did we do?" '

Stevenson is more upbeat: 'I respond positively to the redefinition of love and what it means and how it exists between people. People and animals.'

'You've been to Amsterdam again,' says Pegg.

They're a happy pair now with the second series ready to roll, but they admit that the collaboration involved wasn't always easy. A major ambition, which was realised in the first series, was to create an equal show. As Pegg puts it: 'Going into it as a male and female writer, we wanted to make it a balanced show that wasn't blokey or whatever the opposite is.' This often led to horrific arguments with Pegg kicking chairs and Stevenson stomping out. 'We nearly did kill each other, didn't we?' says Stevenson seriously.

'A couple of times,' says Pegg, 'but the great thing about us is that we can have a blazing row then carry on without lasting animosity.'

'Yeah, you have to be able to do that,' says Stevenson, 'but it surprises me because at the time I think that's it, I'll hate you forever and ever and ever and I hate working with you and you're the most obstinate pig on the planet. But then I surprise myself.'

What they do is force each other to compromise on the tone and rhythm of jokes until they reach what they feel is a level series that will appeal to men and women. 'It's a sort of comedy utopia where all races and sexes can make a sitcom together. That's the ideal,' says Stevenson.

At the risk of sounding like a hippie,' says Pegg, 'a lot of love goes into the show. We dedicate ourselves to it entirely and put our friendship on the line at times to get the right joke, and sometimes I'm in awe of Jess.'

'Ahhh,' says Stevenson, 'Simon has much more of a propensity for sentimentality. He's the sentimental partner.'

'Fuck off,' says Pegg, but fondly, and they beam at each other in a way that remarkably isn't sick-making at all.