5ft 11in Josie Gibson and 6ft 7in Stephen Merchant hilariously measure up against each other as Josie admits she grew up believing she was related to The Outlaws creator

‘Almost’ 5ft 11in Josie Gibson and 6ft 7in Stephen Merchant hilariously measured up against each other as Josie admitted she grew up believing she was related to The Outlaws creator.

Stephen, 49, appeared on This Morning on Thursday to discuss the third series of his crime-thriller comedy The Outlaws, which is set in Bristol.

He had barely entered the studio when Josie positioned herself next to him and said ‘I’m quite tall, I’m almost 5 ft 11 in.’ Gesturing to Stephen, she asked: ‘How tall are you?’

Stephen, co-created cult classic The Office with Ricky Gervais at the turn of the century cheerfully replied: ‘6 ft 7 in.’ 

The pair both hail from the Bristol area: Josie, 39, South Gloucestershire and Stephen, Hanham, and they compared their accents.

Josie revealed that she thought she was related to Stephen because they are both tall and from Bristol – and co-host Dermot O’Leary asked: ‘Is that all it takes?’ 

During the interview, Stephen talked about how his mother inspired The Outlaws and he had conceived the idea for the show as a child.

The Outlaws follows seven strangers from different walks of life who are forced together to complete a Community Payback sentence, set in Bristol.

However, their luck changes – not necessarily for the better – when they discover a bag full of money, unaware that its true owners are very dangerous. 

Stephen share of his mother: ‘She was supervising criminals and she used to tell me about the Bristol people who come to the door and they were a mixed bag, some of whom went to my school. 

‘I just thought it was an interesting backdrop for a show, turning into a crime thriller. Since I was a teenager, I just always thought it was a good idea for a show.’

The star managed to recruit Hollywood legend Christopher Walken for the BBC show ‘by comparing Bristol to San Francisco’.

He  told Josie and Dermot, 51, of the Academy Award winner’s character: ‘He’s quite a quiet man, a reflective person. 

‘I took him to Stonehenge and he didn’t talk for the first hour. Then he said: “Apparently the blue stones have healing properties.” He asked to touch them and the woman said “No” quite firmly and I said “But he’s an Oscar winner!”

‘When you ask him a question he won’t reply right away, it’s like he’s buffering, but he’s just reflecting. It’s like having a Zoom conversation in person.’

A star of the show, Jessica Gunning, achieved worldwide fame in April when British black-comedy miniseries Baby Reindeer was released.

Stephen previously revealed that Jessica’s character Dianne was inspired by his mother and Jessica has writing credits on series three.

Baby Reindeer follows comedian and bartender Donny Dunn (Richard Gadd) who gets stalked by former lawyer Martha Scott (Jessica).

The Outlaws begins on May 30 at 9pm on BBC1 One and BBC iPlayer