David Walliams goes from ‘Little Britain’ to books for little ones

By: Victoria Ahearn, The Canadian Press Posted: 9:34 AM CST Wednesday, Mar. 2, 2016 Last Modified: 1:36 PM CST Wednesday, Mar. 2, 2016

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TORONTO - When David Walliams created and starred in the irreverent BBC sketch show "Little Britain," playing characters including a psychiatric hospital patient and an unconvincing transvestite, he was surprised to find a lot of children liked it.

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This article was published 02/03/2016 (3838 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

TORONTO – When David Walliams created and starred in the irreverent BBC sketch show “Little Britain,” playing characters including a psychiatric hospital patient and an unconvincing transvestite, he was surprised to find a lot of children liked it.

“They did like the characters and the large-than-life nature of it,” the London native, who’s a judge on “Britain’s Got Talent,” recalled in a phone interview.

“I thought, ‘If I could somehow capture that humour in something specially for kids, they may really go for it.'”

British comedian David Walliams poses in this undated handout photo. When David Walliams created and starred in the irreverent BBC sketch show "Little Britain," playing characters including a psychiatric hospital patient and an unconvincing transvestite, he was surprised to find a lot of children liked it. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO - Simon Emmett

Such was the start of his soaring side-career as a popular children’s author. He’s drawn rave reviews for his humorous, touching and eccentric stories that often celebrate the diversity in kids and those who feel like outsiders.

“I wanted to say to them, ‘It’s OK to be different and feel different and to celebrate difference,'” said Walliams, who will be at Vancouver’s Our Lady of Perpetual Help School as part of a Kidsbooks event on Thursday. On March 9, he’ll be at the Toronto Reference Library.

“I think when you go to school, you’re forced to conform to some extent. A friend of mine, he’s a well-known fashion designer, he said, ‘You’re your true self before you go to school.’ He said when he was a kid he used to dress up as a girl and have a great time and then when he went to school he realized he had to conform otherwise his life was going to be difficult.

“I really want to celebrate difference as much as possible.”

Walliams’s latest book, “Grandpa’s Great Escape,” touches on dementia as it follows 12-year-old Jack and his grandfather, a Second World War veteran who is losing his memory and starting to think he’s still the young pilot he used to be.

It’s one of several of Walliams’s books in which the young protagonist is interacting with an elder. “Gangsta Granny,” for instance, is about a young boy’s relationship with his jewel-thief grandmother.

Walliams’s writing has been compared to that of the late, great Roald Dahl, author of children’s books including “James and the Giant Peach,” “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” and “Matilda.”

“He’s definitely my hero as a writer and one of the reasons he’s my hero is that he wrote a different book every time, it was a different story,” said Walliams, 44.

“I think he counterbalances brilliantly humour and darkness.”

Walliams has a similar goal in his writing.

“I do think you want to write a book as a children’s author that kids are going to feel is a bit forbidden,” he said.

“A book they’re going to read under the duvet with a torch feeling like they’re being a bit naughty by reading it, feeling like their parents might go, ‘Oh, what are you reading this for? You should read this.’

“Roald Dahl often had that quality and it’s something I definitely aspire to, the idea that the books are a little bit naughty and maybe the teacher wouldn’t quite approve.”