mon 23/12/2024

Me and Mrs Jones, BBC One | reviews, news & interviews

Me and Mrs Jones, BBC One

Me and Mrs Jones, BBC One

Slow start to comedy about yummy mummy with love troubles

Sarah Alexander has her hands full with all the men in her life

It's always either a very good or a very bad sign when my notebook remains untainted by my scrawl when I'm reviewing; either I am too busy enjoying myself to make notes or I'm so unengaged that I can barely be bothered to lift my pen.

It was the latter with last night's opener (part one of six) of Me and Mrs Jones, despite the presence of Sarah Alexander, a talented comedy actress, and Robert Sheehan, a very fine dramatic actor whom the camera loves. And also despite the writing talents of Oriane Messina and Fay Rusling, who worked on the wonderful Smack the Pony with Alexander, and then wrote for the all-round fabulous Green Wing and also Campus, which had its moments. But their new vehicle is underwhelming.

At least it doesn't plumb the depths of My Family

Alexander plays Gemma, the yummy mummy of twin girls by ex-husband Jason (Neil Morrissey, here reprising his Men Behaving Badly useless bloke routine a couple of decades on). He's now with the much younger Inca (Vera Filatova), a cold-hearted Swedish beautician obsessed with waxing (a joke that wanes very quickly), whose cooking poisons his kids. Equally gorgeous single dad Tom (Nathanial Parker), whose daughter goes to the same school as the twins, asked Gemma to dinner and she got into a dither about what to wear and how far she should go on the first date. Her best friend, the young, free and single Fran (Kelle Bryan) offered advice while text-flirting with her dentist. So far so, cliched.

Then eldest child Alfie (Jonathan Bailey) came home early from his gap-year travels with Sheehan's Billy, a 20-year-old guy he met in China, in tow. By the end of the half-hour, she's kissed Tom on the doorstep and got into an accidental clinch with Billy, who's staying in the spare room and obviously finds her a bit of a milf. What follows, the BBC press handout tells us, is “the increasing complex life of Mrs Jones as she balances, love, sex, affection and motherhood”. Ho hum.

There's a little too much precocious kids' stuff going and characters who are ciphers rather than real people (Katherine Jakeways as a competitive mum is particularly badly served), and the opening episode provoked smiles rather than laughs. While Me and Mrs Jones is no Outnumbered, at least it doesn't plumb the depths of My Family.

But the central relationship between Gemma and Billy already convinces and sitcom, as I've written before, often has a slow start (even if Me and Mrs Jones could be better described as romcom). Who knows, once Alexander and Sheehan get it together, for they surely will, the real comedy will emerge.

Comments

This was rubbish!

omg! how can you say this is rubbish! ME AND MRS JONES is the best tv show EVER! i absolutely love robert sheehan HE IS SO FIT

This is purile! I hate it! If it's recommissioned then I want my licence fee back!

Add comment

The future of Arts Journalism

 

You can stop theartsdesk.com closing!

We urgently need financing to survive. Our fundraising drive has thus far raised £33,000 but we need to reach £100,000 or we will be forced to close. Please contribute here: https://gofund.me/c3f6033d

And if you can forward this information to anyone who might assist, we’d be grateful.

Subscribe to theartsdesk.com

Thank you for continuing to read our work on theartsdesk.com. For unlimited access to every article in its entirety, including our archive of more than 15,000 pieces, we're asking for £5 per month or £40 per year. We feel it's a very good deal, and hope you do too.

To take a subscription now simply click here.

And if you're looking for that extra gift for a friend or family member, why not treat them to a theartsdesk.com gift subscription?

newsletter

Get a weekly digest of our critical highlights in your inbox each Thursday!

Simply enter your email address in the box below

View previous newsletters