When the first lockdown of 2020 kicked off, motivational memes circulated on social media conveying the message that, ultimately, the pandemic was a time for unprecedented productivity and creative output. Shakespeare, the internet reasoned, wrote King Lear during a lockdown. Sure Isaac Newton discovered gravity during a pandemic, the smug posts boasted. What was stopping you from achieving the best version of yourself?

The Decameron takes a much coarser view of how people behave in plague times. Taking place in 1348 at the wine-soaked Villa Santa, as the Black Death ravages Florence, an eclectic group of ‘noblemen’, their ladies and servants, retreat to wait out the pestilence on what is for them – rather than the servants! – a lavish holiday. What ensues is a soapy, horny and riotous period drama featuring Derry Girls’ Saoirse-Monica Jackson and Veep’s Tony Hale.

Series creator Kathleen Jordan says that the Covid-19 pandemic inspired the choice of The Decameron, the 14th century book of short stories by Boccaccio as a reference point.

“Well, an old Italian text is a beautiful thing,” says Jordan. “But it’s just a sort of a jumping off point. The Decameron might not please the Italian medievalists among your readership! During the pandemic, I was trying to find a way to write about what we were going through with some kind of ironic distance, where I could tell jokes and have fun.”

THE DECAMERON. (L to R) Zosia Mamet as Pampinea and Saoirse-Monica Jackson as Misia in Episode 105 of The Decameron. Cr. Giulia Parmigiani/Netflix © 2023

The TV series is a blistering-yet-fun retelling of class struggle during a pandemic, something that viewers will be all too familiar with.

“The panic and the greed of hoarding stuff really reminds me of the toilet paper situation,” Saoirse-Monica Jackson says. “But it’s remarkable how relevant Decameron is today – and quite sad when you look at the class system, and how little progress we have made since.”

The charlatan witch doctors of 14th century Florence also reminded the cast of Covid 19. “The whole, ‘Do dogs get Covid?’ thing,” says Jackson.

“During the pandemic,” Tony Hale adds, “you saw the worst of people and the best of people. You found that authenticity also. To me, the comedy surprises you in The Decameron. That’s the comedy I like – it’s when you’re watching something and you go, ‘Whoa, I wasn’t expecting that!’”

THE DECAMERON. (L to R) Lou Gala as Neifile and Karan Gill as Panfilo in Episode 103 of The Decameron. Cr. Giulia Parmigiani/Netflix © 2023

FROM HORNY MINDS

Jackson plays the role of Misia, who – as the the servant of Pampinea – is at the bottom of the class ladder.

“Misia is the unexpected, isn’t she?” muses Jackson. “I remember reading each episode – they’d be delivered as we were filming it. I roughly knew my story arc, but some of the stuff when I was reading the episodes, it always felt so unexpected. I think when you are living under that pressure cooker of oppression, you’re psychologically abused – it can really go in any direction, because you’re not well, in a way. She’s not well at many points in The Decameron when she’s making decisions.”

Hale and Jordan were hugely impressed with Saoirse Monica Jackson’s work.

“Talk about surprise,” Hale enthuses. “She was throwing stuff at us all the time that we were howling at! I had a running list in my Notes app of jokes she would say off the top of her head. Any time she said something wacky, I’d write it down.”

“She starts talking and you just hit record and she goes,” adds Jordan. “It’s a stream of one-liners! It feels like being at someone’s stand-up show. You’re still talking and connecting with a real human being – but she is just one of the most rawly funny people I have ever met.”

THE DECAMERON. Leila Farzad as Stratillia in Episode 101 of The Decameron. Cr. Giulia Parmigiani/Netflix © 2023

The Decameron isn’t all giggles, as death, disease and grief follow the characters.

“There’s a lot of quite intense themes that are bolstered by the comedy at certain points,” says Jackson. “There are so many funny moments in desperation and grief.”

Hale, whose character Sirisco is the steward of the Villa, and a kind of Basil Fawlty archetype – flailing around as successive crises are resolved and new ones emerge – agrees.

“The stakes could not have been higher in this show, so that just equals loads of great funny moments,” he says.

“We sort of think in period pieces that we have never been silly, or never been weird, or never been awkward and that can’t be true,” notes Jordan.

“It’s a good reflection of the class disparity we still have today,” adds Jackson. “And it’s a depiction of how much we need each other when things go wrong.”

All this said, The Decameron is also a horny show. “From horny minds come horny shows,” reckons Jordan.

“There’s our soundbite!” quips Hale.

“I think sex is as much a part of life as friendship is, as death is,” Jackson resumes. “It’s just another element. I don’t regard it as more or less important than anything else – it’s just part of the water we’re swimming in.”

Speaking of friendship, I ask Jackson how it’s been to see the careers of her Derry Girls co-stars go so stratospheric.

“It’s amazing to see what everybody has gone on to do,” she enthuses. “When I was making the show, you see how talented everybody is. It’s such a testament to Lisa McGee’s casting and her eye. It’s really exciting to watch.”

THE DECAMERON. (L to R) Amar Chadha-Patel as Dioneo, Tanya Reynolds as Licisca, Tony Hale as Sirisco, Leila Farzad as Stratillia, and Karan Gill as Panfilo in Episode 103 of The Decameron. Cr. Giulia Parmigiani/Netflix © 2023

BLUE-ARSED FLY

Speaking about Nicola Coughlan’s recent €2 million fundraiser for Palestine, Jackson says, “It’s a remarkable thing to do. She definitely has the platform to do it.”

It’s not just Irish actors whose careers are taking off, but Irish music too.

“I seen Kneecap at Glastonbury and they were fantastic” says Jackson. “I’ve also been listening to Biird a lot in the last couple of weeks and they are just remarkable – we are so lucky to have them. I’m really excited to see where they go. I feel like there’s such a fantastic representation of home right now in music and cinema.”

The two Americans agree, although Jordan has more traditional tastes in music.

“I was a competitive Irish dancer for a long time, so I listened to a lot of traditional stuff,” she says. “I listened to The Cranberries a lot in my adolescence too.”

“For me, it’s U2 for sure,” says Hale. “I missed them at the Sphere and I stupidly thought on the last day of the residency,

‘Maybe I can get a ticket’. It turns out being an Emmy winner doesn’t guarantee you a ticket to see U2 at the Sphere.”
As the interview winds down, Jackson reflects on her hectic schedule.

“You know what, I came down from Liverpool this morning,” she says. “So I’m up and down that train like a blue-arsed fly.”
Another line for Tony Hale’s ever growing Notes app list.

• The Decameron is streaming now on Netflix.