THE Oswestry-born creator of one of the world’s biggest TV shows, Succession, has admitted to a BBC comedy event that he ‘didn’t enjoy making the Roy siblings suffer’.

Jesse Armstrong’s worldwide smash hit ended on Monday – no spoilers here – after the fourth and final series saw the family – based on the Murdochs – went through the mill.

Speaking at a BBC Comedy Festival, Armstrong – who was educated at The Marches School – denied that he was ‘sadistic’ towards his characters but admitted that he put a lot on them.

"It is true that sometimes in the [writers'] room we would say, 'What's the worst thing that can happen [to them]?' And by that, I mean the funniest," he told the BBC.

"We put the characters through a lot, and I do like being unflinching in terms of looking at that. But I don't feel sadistic towards the characters. I feel empathetic and rather humane.

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"Hopefully you see this whole context for them, which is that most of them are pretty, by most common standards, bad people who do terrible things to the world.

“And yet we see a degree of what makes them act that way.

"So I guess I feel like I have more sympathy for them. I see them more as caged beasts in these cages of societal pressures, familial pressures [and] psychology that trap them.

“And I don't enjoy seeing them suffer."

The writer also created Peep Show and Fresh Meat and wrote on The Thick of It and also worked with Chris Morris on the sublime Four Lions.

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He denied at the BBC Comedy Festival that he and his writing team had been given stories by members of the Murdoch family, adding that his research came from the real world and articles.

He said: “(We) occasionally had lunch with powerful media men.

"They are men, usually. And you're in there and they're telling you this stuff. Not even that [Murdoch] level, but powerful people.

“And you're vibrating as you're hearing stuff straight from the horse's mouth. You're like, 'This is it! I understand this world.'

"And you keep some notes and you go out and [read them and] it's like, '[late Viacom and CBS boss] Sumner Redstone loved a deal'. I knew that on the way in."

Armstrong even found time to tell the audience that he still writes lines for Mark and Jeremy – David Mitchell and Robert Webb – which obviously gives rise to hopes of a Peep Show return.