September 27, 2026
A BITESIZE CHAT WITH
JEREMY SWIFT
Jeremy Swift is in his fourth season playing Leslie Higgins and he joins us to talk about continuing the Ted Lasso story beyond the men's team and what changes this latest season has brought to the series as a whole.
BB: Let's start by talking about Season Four as a whole. Season Three is a kind of complete arc for many of the characters. What was it that made you decide to come back and tell this almost reboot-style fourth season of the show?
JS: Yeah, I don't know whether it was particularly a complete arc for Higgins, necessarily. I'm not a creator, so I'm not in charge of the destination of the show, but I always thought at the end of Season Three that there was a potential for more stories with the women’s team, and it was just whether they chose to go down that route. And they did.
JS: And it's not a complete reboot; it's kind of the same, but different, you know? And it shines a light on women's football and all the kinds of differences. I mean, people have been pointing out that Colin (Billy Harris) from the men's team has a Lamborghini, which he can't really drive properly, and Boots (Jude Mack) has a clapped out Land Rover, which she can't afford to run, so there are just really astute balances and differences that they’re showing between men's football, you know, a success story that's taken over a 100 years, and women's football, which is relatively recent.
BB: With that influx of female cast members and the focus on women's football, has the dynamic of the show on set changed at all?
JS: To a certain degree, it has. I mean, just speaking personally, a lot of my scenes are still quite office-bound, and I’m as keen on empowering and celebrating the women's team, if not more so than the men's team, because it's of course a more challenging job for Higgins. I think for Higgins, not so much. I mean, if you were talking to some of the other actors, I think it would be very, very different. It's certainly… The men's team, I have to tell you, [they’re] really noisy. They really wouldn’t stop talking, and the women's team are a little bit more professional.
BB: There is a viral clip I'm sure you've seen from the show where Ted (Jason Sudeikis) has a quote that says “be curious, not judgmental”.
JS: Oh yes.
BB: And for Higgins, I think there’s no better example of that than the moment when he goes to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in the premiere. I would love to know the importance of that scene to not just you as an actor and a character but to the show itself?
JS: Yeah, well, that's a surprise lesson-learning episode for Higgins. It's a heads-up about the women's team and the support it needs and the tough history of the baseball team, the negro baseball teams, and the tough history, the relatively recent tough history for women in sport generally. It's such a beautiful episode, written by Joe Kelly incidentally, and I think that’s again an exciting, interesting lesson for Higgins, and as you say. It's not the day he expected to have, but it's a revelation for him, nevertheless.
BB: When you're playing a character like Higgins, he doesn't often get kind of the main focus, but he gets the opportunity to bounce in and out of other characters' story arcs. As an actor, does it really keep you on your toes that you get to be part of all these different stories within the Ted Lasso universe?
JS: Oh, for sure, yeah. Particularly in episode eight, which drops tomorrow - well, today, depending on when you're listening... I hadn't had a scene with Annette Badland, who plays May and the three pub boys, so that was a delight. But when you have that mix-up, it always recalibrates the dynamic, you know; it brings a sort of different energy to the show, it's great to do. I love to be working with the different people in the cast.
BB: And in the aforementioned eighth episode, for the first time, we kind of allude to Rupert (Anthony Head). Obviously, we lost Tony Head, and I don't know what's gonna happen in episodes nine and ten, but are there any stories or anything that you could share about working with him throughout the show's run?
JS: Oh my goodness. He was such a springy, positive man. I worked with him twice before, in fact. I first met him in 1983, when I was at Chichester Festival Theatre, and all the women...and some men...were crazy about him because he was very handsome, very talented, and incredibly charming. And he remained that throughout his life. I remember him telling this one story that he worked with a young kid who said, "sorry, I can't remember your name." And he said, "Oh, it's easy...
*points to his foot* "Toe"
*points to his knee* "Knee"
*points to his head* "Head"
...and I just thought that was so… he always had fun stories and was a delight. And the fact that he could play this creepy, chilling character when he had such a heart of gold...it just shows incredible talent, really.
BB: Well, it was a pleasure chatting with you. I can't wait to see the final two episodes, and good luck on the rest of the season.
JS: Thank you very much. Have a good day.
Make sure to check out Ted Lasso: Season Four now on Apple TV.
Interview conducted on September 22nd, 2026 by Nick van Dinther.