Tell Me Everything creator Mark O'Sullivan talks Campus West

Mark created and co-wrote the critically-acclaimed ITVX series, which is loosely based on his teenage years growing up in Welwyn Garden City, but things all started out at Campus West in the mid-1990s.

"I started there about 1996," he recalled as he spoke to the Welwyn Hatfield Times. 

"I did performing arts at Oaklands College over the road and we used to perform there.

"That’s how I got to know the people that ran the theatre and started working there part-time, as and when they had productions on. I did it for about five years.

"I’ve got so many good memories of working there, and the anniversary has brought them all flooding back for me."

Mark began working at Campus West in 1996. (Image: United Agents)

It was that time at Campus West which Mark credits with shaping his career and getting him "totally addicted to story-telling".

"My time there completely shaped my career," he continued. 

"I saw so much there, some incredible and some awful, and worked with so many amazing people.

READ MORE: Campus West at 50: A look back at the beloved Welwyn Garden City venue's history

"Whatever theatre it is, it’s not going to be perfect, but you learn from the stuff that isn’t great as much as you learn from anything else.

"I think it was a springboard for me, and I got totally addicted to story-telling and being creative. I can absolutely trace all that back to working at Campus West."

And it's arguably the most iconic era of Campus West that makes an appearance in Tell Me Everything, although Mark admitted that West One - the nightclub that operated at Campus West in the 1980s and 90s - was never meant to appear in the show.

Mark remembered the West One nightclub fondly. (Image: Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council)

"In Tell Me Everything, which is semi-autobiographical and very much based on me and my teenage years in Welwyn Garden City, I was writing a nightclub into the series," he revealed.

"I do this thing, and it’s bad really, when I’m writing something loosely based on a place or a person, I give them the same name, and then change it later.

"Well, I forgot to do it, so the nightclub in Tell Me Everything is called West One."

READ MORE: Looking back at the chaos of 2021 Campus West panto

Those who partied the night away at West One still talk about those times fondly, with Mark describing the venue as "legendary".

"West One the Best One, as it was known," he said with a laugh.

"Everyone in and around my age who grew up in Welwyn Garden City still talks about West One today.

"That, and Roller City, are both legendary. It’s where it all happened. I had some great times there myself too."