It’s (nearly) the weekend. And time to schedule a date with the kind of television that will distract from taxi strikes, zama zamas, unruly bodyguards, cold weather and all the other real-life dramas out there.
Am I Being Unreasonable? could be just the ticket. Britain’s The Telegraph newspapers describes it as being, “Full of twists, turns and tonal gear-changes, Am I Being Unreasonable? is perhaps the most idiosyncratic home-grown series you’ll see all year, so strap in and relish the wild ride.”
Described as a comedy thriller about obsessive friendship, maternal paranoia … and a dead cat, it is “Shot through with whip-smart humour” and takes “female storytelling to a refreshing new level”.
Written by and starring real-life best friends Selin Hizli (Appropriate Adult and Grantchester, both on BritBox) and Daisy May Cooper (BAFTA winner for This Country), it’s been described as a “brilliantly warped” and “twisted, funny and downright clever” comedy about just how quickly lives can change – and unravel.
Cooper stars as Nic, a suburban mother stuck in a rut who finds a kindred soul in Jen (Hizli), prompting her dark secrets to bubble up. But is their newfound friendship truly therapeutic?
A quick interview with the protagonists reveals more on why this show, currently on BritBox in South Africa, is just the ticket to lighten the load.
What is the relationship like between Nic and Ollie?
Daisy: The relationship between Nic and Ollie is she treats him like the adult and he talks to her like the child.
Selin: I think that’s the experience that a lot of people will relate to. I’ve spoken to so many people in my life who have felt like they’ve had to parent their parents from quite a young age and I think that Nic really relies on Ollie a lot.
How difficult is it to work together as friends?
Daisy: It’s difficult to work with friends if you don’t have a really truthful, honest friendship. For example, if I come up with a really bad idea, she can immediately say, that’s shit without having to worry hurting my feelings,
Selin: And vice versa.
Daisy: And vice versa, you don’t have time to pussy foot around each other or to take offence and that is what the perfect writing partnership should be.
Selin: I feel very safe working with Daisy, I feel like it’s a place where I can suggest things whether it’s good or bad and it’s not going to be like get outta my house.
What is the tone for this series?
Daisy: Got a little bit of horror in there, got a little bit of laughter in there, got a little bit of mystery in there, got a little bit of drama in there, got a lot of very serious subjects in there, but then you do a serious subject and you come out on a laugh
Selin: Because you’ve got to laugh
Daisy: I don’t think anything is truthful as a drama if you don’t have any humorous things in it
Selin: And I think that’s what we found when we first started working on the story of it, we’d come up with all these drama plot points and they didn’t start to feel real until we put the comedy in. They didn’t start to feel truthful and really like what we recognised as our own experience until we put that comedy in and started drawing out of those dark places.
Daisy: And that’s the thing about human instinct is when things are really really bad, you don’t dwell on that, you try and find the humour in life to try and pick you up. So that’s what we tried to be as truthful in that as we possibly could.
Why should viewers watch this series?
Daisy: I’ll tell you what, you should watch this series, because I think personally it’s unlike anything that’s out there on the telly and we make television we would want to watch.
Selin: That’s what made us want to do it in the first place. We wanted to make something that we would want to watch that kept us interested and didn’t give us all the answers on a plate and was a bit of fun as well.
Sum up Am I Being Unreasonable? in 3 words
Daisy: I would sum up the series in 3 words, bonkers, scary, truthful, funny – that’s four.
Selin: I would say…
Daisy: … it is great
Selin: Enjoyable, panic attack
Daisy: Yes, funny panic attack!
Selin: Funny panic attack
