Ahead of his new TV show coming to Virgin Media One, Emmy-award winner Baz Ashmawy has admitted the award “loses its shine after a while”. 

Faithless, the first TV series created by Mr Ashmawy, is a dramedy about an Irish-Egyptian dad who is faced with raising his three daughters alone. 

Mr Ashmawy told The Anton Savage Show he has always had a desire to act – and who better to work for than himself? 

“I started as an actor, but I dropped out,” he said.  

“Someone saw me in the play, and then they said, ‘We’re doing a comedy travel show and we think you’d be very funny in that’. 

“It’s like a lot of things in life - you aim at the board over there, you throw your darts, and it just veers off somewhere.” 

This fresh foray into acting has pushed him to work harder with the “amazing” cast he found for his new TV show. 

'I wrote myself as the straight man'

Mr Ashmawy said he wrote Faithless as a “witty drama” rather than a pure comedy – which accidentally put him in an awkward position. 

“When I had done it, I realised I wrote myself as the ‘straight man’,” he explained. “And I was like, why did I do that? 

“Everyone else has these really funny parts and I'm kind of the straight man that it’s all happening to. 

“He's quite depressed, downbeat and kind of guy – but it’s kind of great because it's very different to me.” 

How to Kill Your Mammy

Mr Ashmawy is best known for his series 50 Ways to Kill Your Mammy, where he and his mother skydive, befriend crocodiles, fly warplanes and much more. 

The series won an International Emmy for Best Non-Scripted Entertainment award – which Mr Ashmawy said is currently “gathering dust”. 

“It loses its shine after a while,” he said. 

“I don’t know, it’s just like a constant reminder of a peak that you might have had. 

“I worked with someone else, and they were like, once they got the Emmy, that was it for them. 

“For me I was just like ‘I’d love another one, just for balance’.” 

Ashmawy celebrations

When Mr Ashmawy won his Emmy, he decided the best way to celebrate was with the person who helped him win. 

“My mam just doesn’t warm to [parties],” he said. “She said it was just a bit stuffy and snooty, so she asked if we could go to an Irish bar. 

“Then I rang an Irish bar, and they must have thought it was a prank call because I said, ‘Here my mam and I are here from Dublin, we just won an Emmy, can we come to your bar?’ 

“Then we arrived at and plunked it on the counter, and we stayed there until 5am just eating chicken wings.” 

He said it has been “far too long” since he tried to kill his mother, but will hold off a little bit longer until he tries again. 

Faithless airs on Virgin Media One on January 8th.