Sam Bain’s three-part black comedy lands like a slap: when Charlie shuns conventional treatment for Hodgkin lymphoma, his oldest friends Tess and freshly divorced Joel drug him, chain him in a wine cellar and enlist disbarred American oncologist Nadia to pump him full of chemotherapy. The kidnapping is only the first felony; keeping Charlie alive while lying to his wife Kira, disposing of syringes and explaining the bruises becomes a full-time criminal enterprise. Steve Bendelack directs with the same deadpan cruelty he brought to The League of Gentlemen, letting every gag curdle as the body count rises.
BBC commissioned the series for BBC Three but dumped the entire box onto iPlayer on 22 July 2017 before a belated BBC Two linear run starting 20 August, a scheduling shrug that matched the muted reception: 55 on Metacritic, 67 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes. Critics praised Lizzy Caplan’s sardonic turn as the rogue doctor and Jessica Regan’s panicked moral compass, yet winced at the tonal whiplash between farce and genuine horror when veins collapse and friendships fracture. Six half-hours were also recut into three hour-long episodes for the US Showtime premiere that November, though neither edit could decide whether this was a cautionary tale about wellness cults or simply an excuse to watch nice people bury each other alive.
Production Details
BBC Two / 1 Season / 3 Episodes / 2017
Created by: Sam Bain
Showrunner(s): Damon Beesley, Gregor Sharp, Sam Bain
Writer(s): Sam Bain
Producer(s): Gill Isles
Cinematography: Richard Stoddard
Music: Rael Jones
Main Cast
Chris Geere as Joel
Lizzy Caplan as Nadia
Tom Riley as Charlie
Jessica Regan as Tess
Wendy Meredith as Angie
