Another show that came across my radar from the Guardians's top TV of 2022 list, I wasn't sure exactly what to expect, but it's a dark and funny sitcom, not unlike the sort of material that Julia Davis was producing twenty years ago.
Nicola (Daisy May Cooper) is married to Dan (Dustin Demri-Burns) but is still reeling from the accidental death of Dan's brother Alex (David Flynn) with whom Nicola was having a passionate affair. Jen (Selin Hizli) is new in the village but finds an immediate friend in Nicola. However, Jen also has as a secret or two that she's hiding.
Firstly, this is another wonderful performance from Daisy May Cooper. I said in my recent review of "Rain Dogs" I really am coming around to appreciate just how good she is. I watched "This Country" but, perhaps as it was her first prominent role, I wondered if she might actually just be like Kerry, but these have certainly convinced me otherwise. She's great here, as is Lenny Rush, who plays Nic's son Ollie, who is also outwardly charming but hiding his emotional damage, which comes out in a horribly destructive way. Dustin Demri-Burns continues to play "horrible family member" which he's good at, but I'd like to see him play something else. Karla Crome is a welcome addition to any show.
Cooper and Hizli are also the writers of the series which both dark and quite sexual but very funny with it. There's a semi-improvised style to the dialogue that works really well. There are regular flashbacks to Nicola's affair with Alex, but those include her guilt about it, and his death and as that becomes worse the severity and abruptness of them increases.
I enjoyed it, and I'm looking forward to the second season that has been commissioned.