Channel 4’s new sitcom Catastrophe starts with a bang. Not the nuclear variety as in ITV2’s Cockroaches though. Here the bang is the sex between the two characters Sharon and Rob (Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney) who have just met in a bar. It’s a fast and furious shag and one of many that punctuates the hilarious first episode.
The trouble starts, however, when Rob returns to America and Sharon, a London schoolteacher, discovers that she is pregnant. Despite it only seeming to be a casual fling (Sharon’s name in Rob’s phone book is filed under “London Sex”), Rob comes back and is extremely supportive. "This kid needs a dad" is his explanation for sticking around.
Usually you get to know your partner before you have a baby. Catastrophe follows two people getting to know each other after they discover they are to become parents. It is a messy process. Sharon has a cancer scare at the hospital and her friend Fran, played to prissy perfection by Ashley Jensen, is one of those people rubs everyone up the wrong way from the moment they invite them round and ask them to remove their shoes at the door.
A number of interesting things make it stand out, but let’s underline from the get-go that Catastrophe will make you laugh out loud. Delaney and Horgan, who co-wrote it (probably why they share first names with their characters) have an ear for dialogue that is both naturalistic and comical. There’s a particularly cute scene with Rob outside the schoolgates being quizzed by some tiny pupils. While the humour can be dark there is clearly plenty of heart beneath the dirty, smutty surface.
There is an American feel to it. And not just because of US stand-up Delaney's presence. One could imagine it having been pitched as a film script with, say, Ben Stiller and Tina Fey. The lack of a laugh track and the exterior locations also lend it a cinematic sensibility. There’s an echo of Knocked Up in the initial plot, though I expect it may spin off in its own idiosyncratic direction, charting the nasty things that go wrong as well as the things that go right.
It is also worth noting that it is features proper adults. TV recently has often either featured impossibly young people – Scrotal Recall, Bad Education – or older people who can't seem to function in society – Miranda, Count Arthur Strong. Catastrophe features two normal, good-looking types who kissed their twenties goodbye a long time ago. Which does not mean that they aren’t sexy. Delaney is a reasonably chiselled (compared to most comedians, who usually look like trolls and goblins), while Horgan’s luscious hair deserves an award in its own right. It's something for grown-up comedy fans to set their alarms for at last.
At this point the critic usually picks a hole in something. Unfortunately I can’t really find anything wrong with Catastrophe, so it’s best to end the review here. If you’ve read this entire piece that’s great, if you’ve just skipped here from the start I’ll sum up Catastrophe in two words for you. Watch it. This one will run and run.
Catastrophe, Mondays from January 19, 10pm, C4.
