TV Review: Crashing Series 1, Channel 4

 

“Everyone fucks everyone, eventually”

I wrote here about the first episode of Crashing, Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s sitcom for Channel 4, and though it didn’t really float my boat, I did persevere with the rest of the series. Truth be told though, it was just more of the same – I continued to like what I liked about it and similarly, what substantially rubbed me up the wrong way continued to bug me.

Namely, the thoroughly unlikeable nature of Waller-Bridge’s self-played lead Lulu, crashing into the lives of old friend Anthony and his fiancée Kate and doing her utmost to fuck up their relationship in order to act on their hitherto unexplored lifelong sexual tension. Not that characters have to be likeable to be good but I found nothing redeemable in Lulu, just a thoroughly obnoxious selfishness that turned me off pretty much the whole show.

Which was a shame, as there were bright spots, not least in Damien Molony’s chilled portrayal of Anthony and the frequency with which he was shirtless. And the secondary character plots of double act Jonathan Bailey and Amit Shah’s Sam and Fred and their negotiation of closeted infatuation and jealous boyfriends, and Adrian Scarborough’s hapless divorcé transitioning into artist’s muse were often quite amusing. 

And the level of richly observed detail constantly reminded of Waller-Bridge’s undoubted talent – from the affectations of cutlery-free restaurants to the truths we speak when absolutely hammered – and the guest spots of a lascivious Kathy Burke and a business-like Janie Dee demonstrates the quality of her contacts, I just wish I’d enjoyed the whole thing more. It would be good to see Waller-Bridge expanding the world of her writing.

Photos: courtesy of the Damien Molony forum

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