Valentine’s Day – is it a commercialized holiday with the sole purpose of making single people feel inadequate?
Or is it the one day a year that true love blossoms like a “night blooming Cereus”.
Honestly, I don’t have an answer.
But I can suggest an awesome Britcom1 that follows the misadventures-in-love of a quartet of friends who hail from downtown London. ‘Coupling’ could be called the UK’s answer to the globally syndicated series ‘Friends’ (US), its combination of risquè humour and retelling of plotlines from different POVs makes for an unpredictable story-structure. This non-linear writing device often leads to an outlandish sort of comedy; defying expectations and aggresively tickling the funny bone in the process.
I have thoroughly enjoyed binging the first three seasons of this show; the rapid fire jokes really do the trick, every episode is a banger!
Being Canadian I tend to consume a healthy portion of British media. Not to imply that non-Commonwealth nations aren’t exposed to British made art and media, but Canadian TV programming actually mandates that a percentage of our streaming and cable be made in Canada or the United Kingdoms.
So I know what I’m talking about when I say ‘Coupling’ is a shining example of UK comedy – done right.
Here’s a few neat facts about the show:
-‘Coupling’ was created by Steven Moffat, who later became famous for his tenure on ‘Doctor Who’.
-The show was inspired by the creator’s own relationship with his wife, Sue Vertue, who was also a producer on the show. The main characters Steve and Susan are named after them.
-The series first aired on BBC 2 (British Broadcasting Network) on May 12, 2000, and continued for four seasons, airing its finale on June 14, 2004, with a total of 28 episodes.
-It won the “Best TV Comedy” at the 2003 British Comedy Awards.
-The success of ‘Coupling’ helped propel the careers of its main actors.
Jack Davenport went on to star as “James Norrington” in the hugely popular ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ series; while Richard Coyle appeared in ‘Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore’.
Rating 8.5/10