BBC Three: Top shows to stream
Helen Archer | On 28, Nov 2020
In February 2016, BBC Three became the UK’s first online TV channel. The channel continues to serve up fresh programmes every day, including long-form drama, documentary and comedy. (See our guide to what’s coming soon to BBC Three.)
The channel also offers a range of old BBC Three shows to stream. What’s new on the online channel and what’s worth watching? Read on for our guide to the best shows on BBC Three:
Your next box set: We Are Who We Are
Director Luca Guadagnino’s first foray into television is something of a triumph, losing neither his renowned aesthetic nor his sensitive characterisation in the translation to the small screen. This eight-part series, set in an American military base near Chioggia, Italy, in the run-up to Trump’s win in the 2016 election, follows the lives of some of the teenagers shored up there, in this very particular time and space.
Jack Dylan Grazer gives a pitch-perfect performance as the initially self-absorbed, unsympathetic Fraser, newly arrived at the base with his Colonel mother (Chloe Sevigny) and her wife, played by Alice Barga. They are housed next door to the family of 14-year-old Caitlin (newcomer Jordan Kristine Seamon). The two teens soon form an intense bond, a springboard from which they can explore their burgeoning sexual and gender identities, while surrounded by a cast of characters each going through their own crises.
The teenagers come to life as they escape the sterility of the base for the deserted Adriatic beaches and surrounding villages. Freeze-frames and slow-mo evoke the small, significant moments which punctuate a perpetual boredom, and the soundtrack surges with constant, perfectly picked refrains, highlighting the importance of music as a backdrop to adolescence. Guadagnino once again confidently captures the languorousness of youth.
The series isn’t perfect – it takes a little while to find its feet, and for the audience to become acclimatised to its pace – but the cumulative effect is of a dreamy glimpse into the heightened feelings of teenager hood, in all its beauty and ugliness, exploring friendship and love with a raw, aching tenderness.
Pick of the Week: Defending Digga D
This absorbing documentary, directed by Marian Mohamed, follows 20-year-old UK drill artist Digga D (real name Rhys Herbert) as he is released from prison following 15 months inside, after being convicted of conspiracy to commit violent disorder. Having made a name for himself on the drill scene before being put behind bars, his first priority is to get back into his music and to stay out of trouble.
Probation services prohibit him from returning to London and instead house him in a hostel in Norwich, where he has to check in every three hours. A Criminal Behaviour Order decrees that his lyrics have to be checked and authorised by police, meaning they can effectively censor what he’s releasing. But Digga and his team take it on the chin – his manager, Bills, rents a flat in Norwich to create a studio, and they set about making music. His lawyer is at the other end of the phone for him to run his rhymes through.
And yet, with Digga attending a Black Lives Matter protest, he finds himself under the scrutiny of the law. Similarly, when out and about, he is repeatedly stopped and searched. Mobile phone footage captures these moments when the camera crew is not there.
Digga comes across as endearing and single-minded, wanting desperately to stay on the right side of the law and make a name for himself with his music. And yet, as this documentary effectively demonstrates, the cards are stacked against him. It’s a timely look at the systemic barriers put in place that can stop Black talent from thriving.
Your next box set: Twenties
BBC Three have recently been hitting the sweet spot with their female-led acquisitions. From Fleabag through to Shrill and the recent Awkwafina Is Nora From Queens, Lena Waithe’s new series Twenties fits nicely into a growing portfolio of millennial comedy-drama.
Based on a 2013 semi-autobiographical web series, the programme follows Hattie (Jonica T. Gibbs), who, along with her friends Marie (Christina Elmore) and Nia (Gabrielle Graham) are navigating life in their 20s. If that sounds a little ‘been there, done that’, what sets this programme apart from so many before it is not only the razor-sharp script, but the new perspective of the main character, a queer Black woman.
While the pilot for the series sees Hattie broke and homeless, with no solid prospects, the series quickly takes us to unexpected places. This is very much an aspirational Hollywood story. Marie is already established in her career as a film executive, while Nia is a yoga teacher with latent aspirations to be an actress. Together, they form a well-connected group trying to break into the big time.
Which all seems a little hard to relate to, but it’s also strangely refreshing to see young women ditch the ‘loser’ mentality and reach for the stars. The writing is whip-smart, exploring modern quandaries with a lightness of touch which belie their import. It’s also stylistically very beautiful, with Hollywood lit up like a beacon as a backdrop to the drama, and the characters positively glowing in loving close-ups. The soundtrack choices only add to the hipness of the whole affair. There are a few guest appearances, and the supporting cast are fascinating characters in their own right, creating a universe which is enticingly Black-female led. A new series has thankfully been commissioned – and this feels like a programme which could, and should, run and run.
Rap Trip
This short series follows F.O.S and Ransom, two contestants from The Rap Game UK, as they take to the road in their ‘rap mobile’ to showcase some regional talents in places where musicians have had to create their own scene. In the course of their journey, they make new friends, squash old beefs, and decide who they want to collaborate with.
Starting in Liverpool, they meet, among others, 16-year-old Pelumi, who is bringing clean lyrics to drill music, and SSJ, who is attempting to give a platform to local artists by organising gigs. In Dublin, they meet JYellowL, who has recently achieved more global popularity after featuring on the FIFA soundtrack. He talks about feeling like an outsider because of his Nigerian roots, while Cal and Pepper talk about being local heroes after a viral video in which they rap in their own accents. The Lemon Pie Collective, meanwhile, have taken to a derelict town where they have built their own studio and venue. In the final episode, the duo head to Leicester and Bradford to meet some British South Asian rappers – Jay Milli, who is incorporating a Punjabi sounds into his tunes, and Ceejay, who has previously sparred with F.O.S on Twitter.
If rap’s your thing, this will doubtless be something of an inspiration into how you can create your own scene without the confines of established circles. In the end, regardless of where you’re from, it’s all about the music and expressing yourself in an authentic and meaningful way.
Catch up with: Just One Night
When the pilot of this aired, we weren’t entirely convinced the show would attract many participants. The premise is a kind of make-or-break relationship test – couples are set up on dates with people other than their partner, and have to decide whether to stick (with their current partner) or twist (with the temptation the producers have put in their way).
It’s more last dates than first dates, and, ideally, a recipe for some voyeuristic drama. The couples who do take part are generally in solid, committed relationships, although they all have small issues they feel need ironing out. There are those who are trying to survive long-distance, and others with clear jealousy and trust problems. Others are just trying to figure out whether their relationships have run their course, and whether they should move in together or cut their losses and split before getting any deeper. Without wanting to spoil the programme, while some of the couples do decide to stay together, and are strengthened by the experience, others display real red flags – and there’s at least one very lucky escape. On the whole, it’s more heartwarming than it is heartbreaking, and one episode in particular reduced this particular reviewer to tears. Young love, eh?
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This high concept, almost anti-dating show, posits the question of whether you’d leave your partner after spending ‘just one night’ with the person of your dreams, almost as though the Ashley Madison dating website has come to life. Bonnie and Stevie have been together for four years, having met on Tinder. Bonnie wants them to move in together, but Stevie’s not so sure.
Helpfully, BBC Three set them both up with their ultimate ‘type’ (for Stevie, this means a blonde with big boobs). Shannon and Moses are selected to go on a date with the couple – separately, though in the same restaurant, metres from each other – to see if they can’t tempt them away from their partner.
Shannon’s a veritable honey-trap, pretty much throwing herself at Stevie, while Moses is just the tonic Bonnie seems to need, trying to big her up and give her some helpful advice about her own worth and what kind of behaviour she should or shouldn’t settle for. It feels pretty touch and go for our intrepid couple, although we won’t spoil the ending. It’s a strange programme and one which you can’t imagine will be beating off applicants to appear on it.
Hometown: A Killing
This six-part box set follows journalist Mobeen Azhar as he returns to his home town of Birkby, Huddersfield, to investigate the death of Mohammed Yassar Yaqub, who was shot by police in his car in 2017, provoking a ‘Justice 4 Yassar’ campaign. Starting off as a trip down memory lane as Mobeen visits the place he grew up in – and bumps into the people he went to school with – he finds that people are unwilling to talk openly about the circumstances surrounding Yassar’s death.
He soon discovers that things have changed quite dramatically in the 20-odd years since he’s been there. Weapons now proliferate and young men are turning to drug dealing. There’s a potted history here of first generation immigrants, and a look at how life has shifted, as Mobeen speaks to people whose lives have been impacted by drugs and violence. There is also a look at the impact of Islamophobia and bigotry, and the ways in which it can silence a community.
This is an occasionally uncomfortable watch – at times, it feels like victim blaming, as Yassar’s involvement in the drugs trade is investigated and Yassar’s dad quickly stops speaking to Mobeen. But it’s also an honest look at a subject that is difficult to broach, and feels it can only – or best – be done by someone like Mobeen, who grew up in the community and can bring a clarity that might otherwise be obfuscated.
Your Next Box Set: Famalam: Season 3
It’s rather surprising that the new season of Famalam has already run into controversy, given that it’s a show which has an almost entirely black cast, and seeks to speak to the British black experience. Yet the clip the BBC chose to publicise it with – a skit depicting a Jamaican Countdown – provoked some thoughtful critique.
It would be a shame, though, to write the programme off on the back of one of the broadest of sketches on its roster. Famalam has a pedigree of parodies which seek to subvert expectations, and the new run is no exception. We see the return of favourites such as Detective Moses Mountree, star of Midsomer Motherf***in’ Murders, who here is investigating a Triad gang accused of scrumping apples, and the sincere Nigerian Prince who everyone assumes is a scammer. The E19 posse continue their beef with the Stratford Soldiers, although they are now competing over who is most environmentally friendly. The terrifying Aunties are back, as is the meme-obsessed, middle-aged dad.
There are some missteps, but they are more than made up for by the sly and witty takes on “white culture” – be it the unseasoned chicken featured on a cookery show parody or the Ugandan pop star who travels to Middlesborough to adopt an impoverished child. For more general amusement, African warlords find themselves under threat by tweets published to “spread awareness”, and a “grime-o-gram” visits an office to sing lovely birthday lyrics to an unsuspecting recipient.
As with all sketch shows, some bits work better than others, but the cast – Gbemisola Ikumelo, Danielle Vitalis, Vivienne Acheampong, Samson Kayo, John MacMillan, and Tom Moutch – bring a sweetness to the satire, and with a good 80 per cent hit-rate, Famalam is still worth your time.
Fighting the Power: Britain After George Floyd
This sympathetic and informative documentary takes us behind the scenes of the UK’s Black Lives Matter protests which took place over the course of the summer, following the death of George Floyd at the hands of the police in Minneapolis in May. It speaks to the relevance of the movement on this side of the pond, concisely demonstrating that although police here aren’t generally armed with guns in the same way they are in Amercia, Black people still suffer disproportionally at the hands of the law.
Reporter Daniel Henry highlights the percentage of BAME people who have been impacted by stop and search policies, and the use of tasers by police, and points to the rate at which they make up the prison and youth offender population, those fined under lockdown, youth unemployment, and school exclusion, invoking a system set up to fail young Black people. He meets some of those who have suffered from police use of force, including an interview with Wretch 32’s 62-year-old father Millard Scott, who was tasered in his own home during a police raid. Scott speaks to the animosity and distrust that builds each time a Black or brown person is targeted by law enforcement.
Henry is also on the ground to film the protests, including the right-wing involvement as they come out to “defend” various statues, and some of the chaos and violence which ensued. He speaks to eloquent antiracist activists and organisers, and gives police and politicians a right to reply – though their words ring hollow against a backdrop of the injustices shown here.
The words of the #BLM organisers are what stick with you after this intelligent documentary ends. They are focussed in their goals, which include police divestment and community investment. Their hope is that this movement doesn’t die out as the camera turns away and initial enthusiasm wanes, and their impressive yet accessible demands, as evidenced here, should be an enduring inspiration for us all.
Hayley Goes…
Haley Pearce – who made a name for herself as the tea lady in BBC’s 2013 fly-on-the-wall documentary The Call Centre – is back with her second season of Hayley Goes…, in which she investigates all manner of Gen X concerns with her usual, no-nonsense energy. In six half-hour episodes, she manages to cover everything from class issues to fast fashion. Each topic is framed around her taking up the “challenge” of converting to whatever subjects she is investigating. Some episodes are more interesting – and more eye-opening – than others, but each is filled with Hayley’s trademark natural curiosity. The series starts out strong, with its look at class, and includes some shocking facts about the divide between rich and poor in contemporary society, along with some humorous moments as Hayley attempts to “learn” how to be upper-class. She finds her month without sex tough, while going “back to nature” sees her reluctantly learning to appreciate the great outdoors. She’s never afraid to acknowledge her own shortcomings – admitting at the end of the “gender curious” episode that she has probably been thoughtlessly transphobic in the past, but now has the tools to examine her behaviour. Her episode on anxiety is probably her most personal, as she comes clean about her own mental health and some of her destructive thought processes. Pearce has an approachable, humorous, down-to earth approach. Between filming, she still works in a call centre to pay her bills, which perhaps goes some way to explaining the rapport she has with just about everyone she meets. Completely unpretentious, warm and likeable, she’s an ideal person to take us through a beginner’s look at some of the subjects affecting young people today.
Canada’s Drag Race
If you’re missing the original Drag Race – or, indeed, its UK spin-off – this Canadian version has arrived just in time to fill the void. It possesses all the sparkles, sequins, and acerbic wit of its counterparts, just in a slightly different accent. In the first episode, the contestants embrace their Canuck nationality with a Rocky Mountain mini-challenge, before the main competition which is inspired by different Canadian cultural gems, including Anne of Green Gables and ice hockey. The format is changed ever so slightly. Guest judge Elisha Cuthbert acts as a RuPaul stand-in, presenting the final show, before taking her seat with the regular judges Brooke Lynn Hytes, Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman and Stacey McKenzie. But other than that, it’s like sinking in to a warm bath of familiarity. The lip sync battle in the first episode is one for the ages and bodes well for things to come. Add some endearingly ‘quirky’ contestants, and some girls who clearly live for drama, and the entertainment value is pretty much guaranteed.
Recommended Box Set: Ladhood
Liam Williams, probably best known to BBC Three viewers for his astute influencer satire Pls Like, brings us this adaptation of his Radio 4 series, which wryly documents his formative years in Garforth, Leeds. In the six-part box set, he traces all his ‘adult’ problems back to his adolescence, when they first came to the fore. It’s an effective premise.
Each episode begins with him messing up his life and relationship in various ways – from his depression and his attitude to drinking, to getting into pointless fights and his inability to commit fully to his relationship. We then flash back to his teenage years, as we watch him kicking about in his gang of four, while the older Williams hangs around in the background like the Ghost of Christmas future.
It’s full of early 21st century nostalgia – his first email address is smokeweed69@hotmail.com, which he uses to upload dire raps onto MySpace, while his mum shouts at him to get off the internet when she has to use the phone – and the soundtrack is spot-on. The cast of characters are wonderfully drawn, exploring concepts of masculinity via bawdy laughs and a lowkey sensitivity, resulting in a more erudite version of The Inbetweeners.
A kind of wistful melancholy permeates the hilarity, asking questions about why we repeat the same mistakes and whether we ever fully leave our past selves behind us. Despite appealing to the teenager in all of us, this is a grown up comedy which shows Williams really coming into his own.
Recommended Box Set: Shrill: Season 1
After premiering in the US last March, this much-talked about series finally got a screening in the UK in December, just as a trailer for the second season was making its rounds. Based on Lindy West’s collection of writing, Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman, it stars Aidy Bryant as Annie, an up-and-coming writer from Portland, Oregon, working her way up the career ladder at fictional website The Weekly Thorn.
While the marketing of the show suggested broad comedy, this is more bittersweet than sugary, providing wry smiles rather than belly-laughs – which is no bad thing. Much has been made of the fatphobia and body-shaming themes, and although the series opens with a gym bunny humiliating Annie with thoughtless and casual cruelty, and the series follows Annie as her self-esteem grows through self-acceptance, it is also a sensitive look at the many difficulties of navigating your 20s, all done with a lightness of touch which belies the real emotion underpinning it. The only negative is that the series is so short, and feels somewhat unfinished. But that only leaves you wanting more.
Just a month after the first season of Shrill was screened on BBC Three, the second season has now landed. It picks up straight from where we left off, with Aidy Bryant’s Annie fleeing from her troll’s house after smashing out the windows of his car. High on a ferocious adrenaline, she’s full of righteous anger as she flees town (and her responsibilities) with her now-dedicated boyfriend, Ryan (Luka Jones). The reality soon hits, though, as she realises she’s out of a job and her mother has gone AWOL in her absence. So begins this season’s journey, in which, while Annie’s not going to roll over and be the butt of anyone’s jokes anymore, she also gradually realises she has to make compromises in life.
Various zeitgeisty issues are raised, from unpaid internships to capitalist feminism. Some of these plot lines hit the mark more than others, but where the programme comes into its own is with the quieter moments of character development. Fran (Lolly Adefope), for example, having had her heart broken, is committed to staying single and appreciating herself, leading to a fabulous solo date, which ends with some rousing karaoke. Annie’s workmates, too, have their own small story arcs and are more roundly humanised than they were in the first season. Laugh-out-loud moments are few and far between, as the programme seems to be heading more towards snappy soap than comedy – but it is no less enjoyable for it. What emerges is akin to a millennial Sex and the City, but with a gentler heart.
Eating with my Ex
Fans of the bite-sized portions of ‘Eating with my Ex’ – which racked up almost 20 million views when screened last year in short episodes – will be delighted it has now been made into a more fulfilling half hour course. It’s an irresistible concept – more ‘Last Dates’ than First Dates – which sees two people who have broken up get together to discuss why their relationship went wrong, and to (possibly) give it another shot.
In the first episode, three couples are brought kicking and screaming back to each other. Steph and Scearcia had an intense – perhaps too intense – six-month affair, and Steph is reluctant to let go. Jodie and Jason were together for 18 months, and broke up after tensions arose surrounding her perceived poshness and his rapping alter-ego. Niall and Chloe were childhood sweethearts whose relationship ended for good, after Chloe slept with one of Niall’s friends.
The fact that, clearly, each couple doesn’t know why their ex is there (to apologise, to have an argument, to woo them back?) lends real tension to the proceedings. After a first few awkward moments of small-talk, they get stuck into the big questions, which each has an opportunity to set to the other. The extended format gives us a little more time with each couple as they talk through their feelings about their upcoming dates with friends and family. But the nitty-gritty is the same, and it’s a tense ride for both the participants and the viewer.
The incredibly more-ish dinner date programme is back, and it’s as delicious as ever. The 8 episode box set kicks off with a couple of celebrity specials to whet our appetites for the main course. First up, TOWIE’s Diags and Fran Parman dissect the breakdown of their relationship in a beer garden, with accompanying tequila shots, in a raw and emotional discussion, while Love Island’s Michael and Joanna reunite for the first time in months to see if there is any future for them. In the second celebrity instalment, Love Island is represented by Georgia Harrison and Sam Gowland from the 2017 series, while Paralympic champion and MBE Kadeena Cox sits down with her ex, Tes, to find out whether he was living a double life while her was with her.
This is, of course, just the amuse bouche for the really tasty stuff, which comes when the “normal” people sit down opposite each other. There are three couples per episode, and a lot to pack in. Some were together for as long as a decade; others are brought back together after relationships spanning only a few months. As is usual with programmes like this, there are clearly some people who are in it purely for screentime, such as the man who claims to have been in a relationship with his “ex” for four years, despite her denying any such relationship existed and him not even knowing she’s vegetarian. Freddie from Channel 4’s The Circle pops up in one episode, and there’s a particularly glaring recycling of reality TV participants when Demere appears, who is in this week’s other BBC Three new release, Don’t Scream. It’s all worth it for the genuinely invested exes, who are seeking proper closure, one way or another.
Available until: December 2020
The Rap Game UK
The US version of this show has been running for five seasons, fronted by Jermaine Dupri and Queen Latifah. BBC Three’s incarnation is an altogether more low-key affair. It houses seven unsigned artists from up and down the country (even Aberdeen and Scunthorpe are represented) in a horrible penthouse apartment in Birmingham, where they will compete for a record contract. Presented by Krept, Konan and BBC Extra’s new talent spotter DJ Target, the competing artists take part in various tasks over the course of the six-episode run. They have to freestyle in front of surprise guests and take part in rap battles to impress future mentors, all the while telling their own stories and injecting their personalities into their lyrics.
While this is no The X Factor – it lacks the ritual humiliation, which seems de rigueur for more mainstream talent competitions – it’s already getting quite competitive. The MCs are ranked from one to seven at the end of each instalment, and resentments are building. Drama seems inevitable. This will be required viewing for fans, but even if rap’s not your thing, this delivers entertainment value.
Available until: 19th February 2020
Pick of the Week: RuPaul’s Drag Race UK
You’d have to be living under a rock not to notice the launch of Drag Race UK. The publicity it’s receiving is befitting this behemoth of a show. The original, US version, fronted by RuPaul, is this year celebrating its 10-year anniversary, and in that time it’s made stars of its contestants, and spawned multiple offshoots. The UK spin-off was always going to attract mass interest due to its built-in fanbase, the only question being how successfully this occasionally earnest show would adapt to a more bawdy British culture.
It’s heartening to see that it has, in fact, embraced the many specificities of the UK, while simultaneously being rather confused by them, and an extra layer of entertainment is added by that cultural exchange. Some of the drag names of the contestants are so intrinsically from this side of the Atlantic that they almost defy explanation – Baga Chipz and Cheryl Hole are self-explanatory enough, although RuPaul is baffled by ‘Vinegar Strokes’. The challenges in the first episode are, too, an example of exactly how the show plans to deal with this clash: by facing it head-on, as contestants are tasked with designing one outfit that explains their home town, and another that pays homage to Queen Elizabeth. The results are witty, fabulous, and very, very British. It’s an excellent start to the show, and there’s already a few professional jealousies brewing. Expect tears, tiaras and tantrums.
Available until: September 2021
Misfits Salon
Makeovers have long been a staple of teen cinema, although some are more successful than others. Posited as a way to make predominately young women feels better about themselves, they can also provoke strong negative reactions. When The Breakfast Club’s preppy Claire turned grunge queen Alison into a clean-cut version of herself, she subsumed Alison’s personality. In Grease, Sandy was turned into a leather-clad femme fatale, all the better to make claim on her man – who had himself undergone a transformation in the hope of being more appealing to her. In Clueless, Tai’s makeover turned her from a sweet-natured dork to a mean girl on one fell swoop.
Misfits Salon swerves these pitfalls by focussing on the personality and character of its clients, tailoring their new looks to reflect who they actually are, rather than imposing standards of beauty upon them. Daisy has autism and feels she has no friends outside of her online social media circle, so hairdresser Sophia Hilton (along with make-up artist and stylist) gets to work creating a look that will boost her confidence. Lesha is non-binary, comes from a strict Christian background, and is also a burns survivor – two separate looks are created for her. Kerri, meanwhile, has fibromyalgia and, while she dresses up for cosplay, has no idea what her own personal image should be. Whether dealing with grief, getting to grips with being newly out the closet, or traumatic amputation, the crew is committed to helping express the personality of their clients, rather than making them more conventionally ‘attractive’. It’s all quite heartwarming, as the participants open up, and get emotional, before leaving the salon bursting with happiness.
Man Like Mobeen: Season 3
The third series of Man Like Mobeen seems, at first, to continue on from the winning formula of looking at the ills of modern society through Guz Khan and Andy Milligan’s sardonic lens. Issues such as racism, government cuts, and the trials of the underfunded NHS have always been part of the commentary of this programme – payday loans, food banks and “halal lettuce” are all part of the social fabric of Mobeen’s world. And so it goes in the opening to Season 3, as we are reunited with his sister Aks (Dúaa Karim) and his tight posse of Nate (Tolu Ogunmefun) and Eight (Tez Ilyas).
Things take a darker turn quite quickly, however, and this season is quite a departure from what has gone before. Money-laundering and drug-dealing are foisted upon our hapless crew, thanks to Art Malik’s sinister Uncle Khan. He insists that Mobeen shows his nephew Naveed (Nikesh Patel) the underworld ropes, and things go pretty pear-shaped, pretty fast.
The stakes are much higher this season, and there are a couple of really shocking moments. Interspersed with really interesting dialogue and character building – in one episode, Mobeen is handcuffed to Officer Harper (Perry Fitzpatrick) for a slow-mo ‘chase’ through the woods, which throws up a fascinating discussion – is a lot of plot and somewhat incomprehensible nefarious deals in darkened rooms, to the detriment of the characters we’ve come to care so much about. It seems like a disservice to the otherwise great writing, and the mix of violence and gentle humour is both jarring and devastating.
Available until: December 2020
Your Next Box Set: Enterprice: Season 2
Back for a second series, we catch up with the creators of Speedi-Kazz, South London’s premier errands service, as they navigate money, relationship, and family worries while also trying to get their business off the ground. Spurred by the big dreams and true entrepreneurial spirit of of Kazim (played by Eyode Ewumi, who also writes the series), business partner and BFF Jeremiah (Trieve Blackwood-Cambridge) is bankrolling the company at the outset of Season 2. Hard work is not something the pair are averse to – but keeping out of trouble is proving a bit more challenging.
While endlessly endearing, the problem with the programme is it tries to do too many things at once. The recording of a radio ad, which the pair hope will go viral, ties up much of the first couple of episodes. Then there are the relationships – Kazim meets a new love interest about halfway through, and gets giddy trying to woo her, while Jeremiah experiences unexpected issues with his girlfriend when she returns from travelling.
There’s the enjoyable ducking and diving to make some cash, like a 21st-century Only Fools and Horses. But also introduced in this season is a strange subplot involving a self-style “community leader” who is profiteering from and exploiting the neighbourhood – and who has a grudge against Speedi-Kazz. It all becomes somewhat chaotic – especially as, towards the end of the season, Jeremiah experiences a genuinely devastating personal loss, which isn’t given the time it needs to percolate.
That being said, the many of the characters are fascinating, and the slightly anarchic nature of the programme adds to its appeal. The last couple of episodes see everything come together cohesively, and the charm of the characters goes a long way.
Your Next Box Set: Hot Property
The pilot for this new dating show was aired during BBC3’s Housing Week, and was a bit of welcome light relief amidst a plethora of programmes highlighting the housing crisis. Thankfully, it’s lost none of its verve and energy now that it’s been extended to a full series box set. Hosted by Yung Filly, who brings an approachable manic energy to the proceedings, the concept could be described as Blind Date meets How Clean is Your House. Filly meets up with hopeful singles in different British cities and helps them whittle down potential suitors, basically by rifling through their rooms and judging them based on their clothes and belongings. The person doing the picking is then introduced to the friends of two of their would-be dates, before making their final decision.
As with the pilot, what’s really amazing is the state of some of the rooms, and the fact the people allowed a camera crew in without even tidying up. All sorts of things are uncovered during the course of the show, from dusty dildos to mouldy dishes. Filly has fun trying on wigs, getting lessons in kink, and having poppers explained to him, and the rapport he builds with the people taking part provides plenty of giggles. On the whole, this is great fun and the format is a lot fresher than most of the musty drawers that the contestants are invited to ransack.
Your Next Box Set: My Left Nut
While a comedy-drama called “My Left Nut”, seeking to explore the importance of men’s health, might not seem like a particularly enticing prospect for many, this limited series proves to be universally appealing. Adapted from an award-winning show at the 2018 Edinburgh Fringe, the three-parter is both heartfelt and heartwarming, covering dark issues with a lightness of touch and in a sensitively humorous way.
Written by Oisin Kearney and Michael Patrick (whose own experiences as a teenager inform the show), the programme stars Nathan Quinn O’Rawe as Mick. While navigating the usual adolescent problems – mastering the art of shaving and going on first dates – he also finds a swelling on his testicles. At first too embarrassed to talk to anyone about it, the problem festers, and his behaviour changes under the weight of his suppressed anxiety. Eventually taking his mother into his confidence, he is able, with her support, to face up to the medical implications.
Some of the funniest parts of this are also the most bawdy – jokes about the size of the protuberance in his trousers make Mick a school legend, and medical students are invited to gawp at his intimate growth. But interspersed with the testicles jokes are genuinely moving moments, from Mick’s mum worrying about the fate of her son to the family’s ongoing grieving for Mick’s dad, who died of motor neurone disease some years previously. The performances are nuanced, from Sinead Keenan as Mick’s mum through to his Inbetweeners-style pals Tommy (Oliver Anthony) and Danny (Jay Duffy), and love interest Rachael (Jessica Reynolds). The result is a genuinely moving, sad, funny, affectionate portrayal of a young man… and his swollen left nut.
Your Next Box Set: In My Skin
Up-and-coming screenwriter Kayleigh Llewellyn debuted her accomplished pilot for this over a year ago, and the follow-up episodes, now available in this five-part box set, prove it was no flash in the pan. Billed as a comedy drama, this nevertheless does not play high school hi-jinks for laughs. Painfully portraying the teenage experience in all its highs and lows (though mainly lows), it is a very grown-up affair – dark, dirty, gritty, emotional, and entirely unforgettable.
Gabrielle Creevy plays 16-year-old Bethan, who, while attempting to maintain a ‘normal’ teenage life, with all the trials and tribulations that entails, is also grappling with much deeper worries. Her mum (Jo Hartley) is bipolar, while her father (Rhodri Meilir) is a deeply dysfunctional alcoholic. Bethan must navigate her schooldays with the extra pressure of keeping her deepest traumas hidden from even those closest to her.
It’s a dark subject matter, perfectly pitched by some excellent performances. As Bethan, Creevy is enormously relatable, developing an intense crush on one of the popular girls at school – Poppy (Zadeiah Campbell-Davies) – and spinning a story of a wonderfully mundane family life to impress her. But even her two best friends Lydia (Poppy Lee Friar) and Travis (James Wilbraham) are in the dark about just how bad things are at home. Only her gran (played perfectly by Di Botcher, who is given a wonderful turn of phrase) knows the truth.
The writing is given life by pitch-perfect performances (special shout-out to Laura Checkley as Mrs Blocker, Bethan’s PE teacher, who could carry a whole show of her own). But it’s with Bethan that the audience suffers and rejoices, in a programme that seemingly effortlessly takes the viewer back to those powerless teenage years, when pleasure and pain seamlessly commingled.
Box Set: Looking for Alaska
This eight-part drama, adapted by The OC creator Josh Schwartz from the young adult novel by John Green, introduces us to a motley crew of prank-loving youngsters who attend Culver Creek boarding school in remote Alabama. Miles ‘Pudge’ Halter (Charlie Plummer) is the newcomer, finding a group of friends in his roomie Chip (Denny Love) and Takumi (Jay Lee), not to mention the titular Alaska (Kristine Froseth) – a high-spirited yet complicated manic pixie dream girl, whose spell he instantly falls under.
They’re overseen by headmaster The Eagle (Timothy Simons, best known as Jonah from Veep) and theology teacher Dr Hyde (Ron Cephas Jones, pretty much reprising his role as William Hill in This is Us). The school itself seems like more of a summer camp than a place of education, all idyllic sunlit-dappled backwaters and surrounding leafy glades.
The first few episodes are fun yet repetitive, as the group bond by playing tricks on their more popular classmates, but there is a constant darkness lurking just below the surface. We know something bad is going to happen from the start, via flash-forwards, and yet when fate befalls one unlucky character it’s simultaneously shocking and strangely underwhelming.
The programme has a very old-fashioned feel – it’s set in the mid 2000s but feels more like a 1960s throwback – and there is a issue with the writing of the female characters, who are ultimately there to teach the boys valuable life lessons, rather than exist realistically in their own right. Ultimately, this coming-of-age story is beautifully acted and filmed, but may prove a hard sell to an increasingly savvy teen audience.
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