The Duchess (2020)
8/10
This Is Marmite, And I Loved It...
12 September 2020
Raunchy, irreverent, tasteless, feminist screw up Katherine Ryan leads the charge accompanied by an excellent star of the future, 'Olive' (Katy Byrne). Olive is the sensible, level headed daughter and conscience that reins in Katherine's excesses, most of the time. Katherine's also a great and fearsome mother, no doubt about it. No Spoilers - but let's get this straight, Katherine is not nice. She's self centred, a show off, pure evil if crossed, so her and Olive are Yin Yang. A great supporting cast ( Apart from Steen Raskopoulos, 'Evan', who I swear is carved out of wood and operated by a puppeteer) and some fantastic dialogue move things along nicely. There's plenty of conflict and awkward situations, some real left field thinking that takes you by surprise, and some very touching moments, but it's never schmaltzy or saccharin. I've just binged all 6 episodes and felt that it was 3 hours well spent and seemed to end on just the right note. Hopefully a second series has already been commissioned? I don't think I'm the intended demographic, being an almost old bloke, and I've had enough Katherine's to last me a lifetime, a hard lesson learned. But I ended up respecting the character, just not 'liking' her at all, if you know what I mean? Rory Keenan, 'Shep', her crazy conspiracy nut and long suffering ex, but doting dad, is a bonus.

Give it a go, you have nothing to lose.
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