Sit-coms are the younger brother of soap operas.
Both deal in the everyday world we all inhabit, where hardship and struggle meet banal familiarity. Both are often regarded as superficial and unreal; they’re seen as cheap, escapist trash, not ‘cultured’. But what is popular can show us a lot about our society and ourselves.
This is definitely true of BAFTA award winning Mum, a BBC2 sit-com which has just finished its second series. Such has been its popularity that another series is in the pipeline. Directed by Stefan Golaszewski and starring the brilliant Lesley Manville as Cathy, the mum of the title, this series has been described as quiet and gentle, but also at times almost unbearable in its poignancy.
Misogyny, rights & Rowling
It might have seemed as if the isolation of lockdown was making people mad last month when the stars of …