"MUM"
With Mother’s Day looming there is a TV sitcom I fell upon, instantly became hooked and can highly recommend. With its title ‘Mum’, not only appropriately titled for the occasion, but also providing some laugh out loud moments!
It is absolutely perfect when you need a humour break. So get all comfy on the sofa, grab a cup of coffee or glass of something, sit back and enjoy!
Found on BBC 2 (Tuesday at 10pm). We are now on Season 2 with Episode 3 being aired on 6th March, but don’t worry as all episodes are available on iPlayer so you can start from the beginning and get yourself up to speed in a flash (just book the afternoon off and have a bit of ‘Mum’ time!)
A British sitcom written by Stefan Golaszewski, it stars Lesley Manville as the main character Cathy. She is ultra kind, patient beyond belief and doesnt judge (traits not often seen in this day and age!).
Its content is a mixture of drama that threaten to make you cry from the sadness of the variation of evolving situations and yet as a comedy you cannot help but laugh. It seems humour whether you want it or not can be found, even in the most tragic circumstances.
Every episode is named after a calendar month portraying a year in her life since the death of her husband and begins in January with the day of the funeral (not laughing yet?),
How Cathy holds it together is beyond me with all the craziness the colourful characters around her bring.
Her only son Jason seems to spend a huge amount of time wandering around in his underpants. His girlfriend Kelly is a complete ninny and airhead, yet she is a mixture of sweetness and stupidity which makes you smile as she comes out with some absolute corkers!
Her brother Derek seems to be completely manipulated by the new love in his life called Pauline who you want to slap on first sight and cannot help to congratulate Cathy on her tolerance. Pauline is the worst kind of snob whose materialistic life was brought to a standstill when her husband left her. She displays some cracking pompous facial expressions whilst making the sort of acerbic comments about Cathy’s house and life that make you suck in your cheeks from lack of oxygen.
As Cathy makes endless cups of tea and dishes out homemade cake, during this introduction, Michael her lifelong friend is on hand to listen. It doesn’t take long to work out he has carried a torch for her for years which suggests a tale of both bereavement and belated romance.
Understandably Michael is full of apprehension as he is her dead husband's best friend, but its played out in a way that makes you want them to seize the moment and run off into the sunset and bugger everyone else!
During the year together, they all go through the major and minor events and with time passing pushing Cathy and Michael together more and more.
They say laughter is the best medicine and this promises a snort or two with many excellent moments to be thoroughly savoured.
On reflection you cannot help but feel as though you have met all these odd people at some point in your life which is made possible from the cleverness of the writer.
Its message apart from being well written with some smashing if not subtle lines from observing people is that even after heartbreak life continues bringing people together no matter how odd or unconventional their relationships are
By the end of it you won’t believe me when I say you will find yourself turning into Kelly
‘Shut up!’
