I'm not to big to admit it. I didn't particularly fancy this sitcom, that arrived on Channel four back in January of this year. It looked broader that my taste usually is, but I decided to give it a chance and ended up racing through the whole thing in almost one sitting.
The Lewis family are part of a devout religious sect that believe that the end of the world is on the way. Patriarch David (Simon Bird) is a strict disciplinarian, who is desperate to rise the ranks of the church, but in doing so has alienated his family. Fiona (Kate O'Flynn) can't help but feel she should have married the church's rising star Andrew (Kadiff Kirwan) instead of David and looks for whatever independence she can find. Teenage Daughter Rachel (Amy James-Kelly) is looking for autonomy too and finds companionship in excommunicated former member John (Ali Khan). Son Aaron (Harry Connor) is bullied at school but finds an out in dramatic and violent artwork.
After an opening scene that's lifted entirely from "The Simpsons" the show settles into its rhythm pretty quickly, which is surprisingly sympathetic to the family and their situation. David is, naturally, the most monstrous of them, arrogant, unscrupulous, and condescending, but even he is undercut as the series runs on by his desire to not to lose his wife but also to connect with his son.
What I wasn't expecting was for the show to be as genuinely funny and witty as it was. Everybody in the show gets laughs too, especially supporting performances from Morgana Robinson and Lolly Adefope who play their next-door neighbour and Aaron's teacher respectively. It even managed to fit a little surprise twist into the final episode that I didn't see coming - even though, in retrospect, it was there all along.
I hope there is an opportunity for more of this.
The Lewis family are part of a devout religious sect that believe that the end of the world is on the way. Patriarch David (Simon Bird) is a strict disciplinarian, who is desperate to rise the ranks of the church, but in doing so has alienated his family. Fiona (Kate O'Flynn) can't help but feel she should have married the church's rising star Andrew (Kadiff Kirwan) instead of David and looks for whatever independence she can find. Teenage Daughter Rachel (Amy James-Kelly) is looking for autonomy too and finds companionship in excommunicated former member John (Ali Khan). Son Aaron (Harry Connor) is bullied at school but finds an out in dramatic and violent artwork.
After an opening scene that's lifted entirely from "The Simpsons" the show settles into its rhythm pretty quickly, which is surprisingly sympathetic to the family and their situation. David is, naturally, the most monstrous of them, arrogant, unscrupulous, and condescending, but even he is undercut as the series runs on by his desire to not to lose his wife but also to connect with his son.
What I wasn't expecting was for the show to be as genuinely funny and witty as it was. Everybody in the show gets laughs too, especially supporting performances from Morgana Robinson and Lolly Adefope who play their next-door neighbour and Aaron's teacher respectively. It even managed to fit a little surprise twist into the final episode that I didn't see coming - even though, in retrospect, it was there all along.
I hope there is an opportunity for more of this.
