The “British Cypriot” sitcom ‘Stath Lets Flats’ aired its first episode on Wednesday, 27th June on Channel 4.
The six-part quirky comedy is written by Jamie Demetriou and Robert Popper, centred on a Greek-Cypriot estate agent.
The subtle jokes, creative one-liners and a mild touch of slap-stick have earnt the series quite a following of fans. The unique-running gag is that Stath comes across as incompetent, impulsive and ambitious – in equal measure, and desperate to prove himself in the estate agent business to his Greek-Cypriot father.
It’s a timely take on the “bewildering” minefield of the London property market; realistically dealt with, in LGR’s ‘Property Show’, with Karl Knipe of The Kings Group, but you won’t find Stath bickering with a smelly tenant there!
The lovely Demetriou siblings Jamie and Natasia took time aside to visit LGR, with their Cypriot father Sotiris, from Koma Tou Gialou. They joined Vasilis Panayi live on-air and incidentally, London Greek Radio’s very own Vasilis excitingly-enough, shows up in the sixth episode of the TV series.
Star-of-the-show, “Stath”, played by Jamie Demetriou, said, “London Greek Radio has been playing in my house since I was a foetus” commenting on the station’s long-time serving of Greek-Cypriot culture and music.
Jamie’s real-life sister plays his fictional sister ‘Sophie’ and as the show progresses, it’s actually endearing to see their sibling relationship.
“Stath (Eftstathios), is a useless Greek-Cypriot letting agent. There’s a lot of Greek letting agencies and we wanted to base it in Green Lanes, but it’s set in Edgware, which also has a Greek community. It’s about their office ‘Michael & Eagle Estate Agency”, Jamie told LGR’s listeners.
Stath speaks with ‘London-Cypriot accent’, which complements his character and is an accent he once had as a young Cypriot.
“We are on London Greek Radio and I think that’s so relevant because so many have made a life here, and they’re Londoners so the character of Stath encapsulates it. He talks in a London accent with a bit of a ‘Greek twang’ to it, which a lot of people have, and I hope a lot of people can relate to that.” Jamie emphasised.
The Greek actor Christos Stergioglou plays Stath’s father Vaso; a witty, passionate patriarch who sprinkles a few Greek phrases in the script.
Jamie explained, “(Dad) has a Greece accent. He didn’t feel comfortable playing a Cypriot. He thought Cypriot people would be angry if he claimed that he was Cypriot because he’s Greek so we made the character half-Greek, half-Cypriot.”
Natasia who plays Sophie explained to listeners that the series was the result of years of hard work and serious determination, creating, and writing it.
Jamie added, “I wanted to make a TV show; me and my sister Tash came up with the idea for it… it was important for us to represent Greek and Greekness on TV with our show; it’s something we are very passionate about.”
This programme hinges on its strong quirky-trait characters narrative; primarily being something of a platform for portraying, or perceiving the Greek-Cypriot community in London.
Jamie concluded, “The community is a different way of putting it; I think it is Greek-Cypriot characters… flamboyant, wonderful, funny, caring characters; they’re all about family and love. We want to have them represented and there’s such a big Greek-Cypriot community… Greeks like to see Greeks represented.”
‘Stath Lets Flats’ continues on Wednesday 1st August at 10 pm on Channel 4.
The next ‘Property Show’ with Karl Knipe airs on Wednesday 5th September at 7.00pm on LGR.
