TV Pick of the Week: We Might Regret This - review by Yvette Huddleston

Abe, whose 28-year-old son Levi (Edward Bluemel) accuses him of being “in the middle of a midlife crisis, albeit a very inclusive one”, has been separated from his wife Jane (Sally Phillips) for 13 years but they are not yet divorced and maintain a disconcertingly friendly relationship that Freya sometimes finds difficult to cope with. Meanwhile her personal assistant Ty (Aasiya Shah) is proving to be well-meaning, but irritating and sometimes a bit of a liability. She asks cringe-inducingly inappropriate questions and has already walked in on Abe and Kyra when they were enjoying an intimate moment together. Then along comes a solution to the problem of Ty in the form of Kyra’s estranged best friend Jo (Elena Saurel) who has turned up on the doorstep from Canada after a year of being out of touch. As Jo needs a job and a place to stay, Kyra employs her as her full-time carer and PA. Kyra is delighted, Abe not so much.

Co-written by real-life best friends Harris and Lee Getty, this excellent new six-part sitcom is very loosely based on their own experiences, with Getty having been Harris’s PA at various points in the past. The script takes a refreshingly no-holds-barred approach to its subject matter, addressing the challenges of Kyra’s disability in a forthright way that is full of warmth and humour – it is very funny. It focuses on all the things that Kyra can do, rather than what she can’t while at the same time highlighting how she navigates a world that, while trying hard to be inclusive, still has a long way to go in terms of rights and accessibility.

And the wider story takes in the nuances, complexities and dynamics of a relationship that is both a close friendship and a transactional one as employer and employee, care-giver and care-receiver. The various struggles that Abe’s family have had to face, and which have impacted on their emotional lives, are also explored. In addition to Kyra and Abe’s central love story, and all its complications, to complicate things further a lovely, tentative romance begins between Jo and Levi. Brilliant storytelling and outstanding performances from a strong cast.