DIVA caught up with the cast and creator of this new queer fishing series
BY YASMIN VINCE, IMAGE BY OUTFLIX
Are you ready to get hooked on this new queer fishing show? Premiering today (17 March), Get Hooked is a six-episode series from Heidi Lynch (Avocado Toast) and Leah Vlemmiks. It sees four friends – SJ, Emma, Vik and Adolescence’s Faye Marsay – head to Canada to try different types of fishing and unlock the sport’s healing power. They are joined by special guests, including Rosie Jones.
Ahead of the premiere, DIVA caught up with Heidi, Faye and Rosie to talk about the show.
Why did you want to make this show?
Heidi: It happened really organically. I went fishing with a group of queer women and non-binary folk and they all thought it was really cool. I don’t fish but I thought, if my friends think it’s cool, it must be cool and maybe there will be some queer fishing shows going on. But I did a quick search on Google and it was all dude bro shows. So I thought there might be a market for this.
Faye: I really love fishing and, in lockdown, it was something I did because you could do it since you are alone. The idea of going with my close friends and doing this and having that experience together was a big sell. And, obviously, I love Heidi!
Rosie: Well, firstly, I’m a very good friend of Faye’s and it was Faye coaching me to do something. But also, before I did the show, I always thought fishing was a hobby that was very male, white, straight, non-disabled, old sport. And what I found was not the case at all. Fishing is something open to everyone.
Why is it such a male-dominated sport?
Rosie: Because like a lot of things in life, they do it, they take it, and they own it, and they don’t make it easy for other people to take part themselves. So, to break that out of that and to show that everyone can be welcomed into it was amazing.
Faye: I suppose it started out that male-dominated and it’s something that over time will change. I think it’s also about awareness and education. If people don’t see themselves in a space then they won’t normally react to it, unless someone’s introduced them and they’ve become passionate about it. I think people have got to see themselves in experiences, otherwise it feels like it’s not available to them.
What is it about fishing that fosters deep conversations?
Heidi: I think it’s being present and in the moment. A lot of people struggle with meditating. Just sitting and trying to think of nothing. But, for some reason, the action of fishing, the repetitive motion of it, really helps your brain slow down.
Rosie: Before I came into it, I thought fishing was about catching fish. And it’s not about that at all. It’s about going outside, being one with nature, clearing your head, de-stressing. And when you put yourself in that mode, it just makes it easier to talk and to have conversations if you want.
Faye: When you’re in nature it kind of gives you a break. You can calm yourself down, you can take a deep breath and I think because you can’t be on a screen, you have to kind of be present and watch the floor and all the rest of it. I think that fishing facilitates a space where you can look each other in the eyeballs and actually listen to each other because you can’t really be doing anything else. You’re either doing the tackle and all the rest of it and going in or you’re sat waiting so it gives space to have those conversations.
What was the best part of making Get Hooked?
Heidi: Episode three when I got to produce that on a kayak. I love kayaking. The best day on set in my whole life.
Rosie: Getting to know Faye, SJ, Emma and Vik. I still find myself in a lot of environments that are run by six straight males. As a queer female, that can be quite isolating. So just to be there and hang out with a load of queer women and non-binary people and to all be seen and welcomed was so beautiful.
Describe the show in three words.
Faye: Wholesome, informative and beautiful.
Rosie: Funny, beautiful, calming
Heidi: Fishing, queer, nature!
Get Hooked is on OUTflix now
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