Aisling Bea created and stars as Áine, an Irish ESL teacher in London scrambling to reboot after a nervous breakdown, in this two-series Channel 4 half-hour. Her sister Shona, played by producer Sharon Horgan, juggles a live-in boyfriend and a crush on colleague Charlotte, while Áine ping-pongs between night classes, awkward dates and the sofa of flatmate Bradley. The humour is brittle and specific: a disastrous driving lesson, a psychic who overcharges, a student’s dad (Tobias Menzies) whose kindness feels like another trap.
Each six-episode run clocks in under 30 minutes, letting the jokes land sharp and the silences sting. Winckler’s direction keeps the palette bright against Bea’s script, which parcels out trauma in off-hand anecdotes and throwaway smiles rather than therapy speeches. Critics reached for Fleabag and Catastrophe as reference points, but the tone is looser, more skittish; Rotten Tomatoes logged a 90% approval for the opener, while The Telegraph handed over five stars and called it the year’s best newcomer.
The second and final series arrived in July 2021, ending on a muted reconciliation rather than a neat bow. Bea ruled out a third season in 2024, saying the story felt complete. Awards followed: she pocketed the BAFTA Breakthrough Talent prize in 2020 and scored a Best Female Comedy Performance nod two years later, cementing the show’s reputation as a small, bruised gem that never shouted for attention yet quietly stuck.
Production Details
Channel 4 / 2 Seasons / 12 Episodes / 2019
Created by: Aisling Bea
Showrunner(s): Clelia Mountford, Sharon Horgan, Aisling Bea
Writer(s): Aisling Bea
Producer(s): Gavin O’Grady
Main Cast
Aisling Bea as Aine
Sharon Horgan as Shona
Tobias Menzies as Richard
Indira Varma as Charlotte
Kadiff Kirwan as Bradley
Aasif Mandvi as Vish
Chris Geere as Freddie
Ricky Grover as Tom
Dystin Johnson as Theresa
Todor Jordanov as Victor
Pik-Sen Lim as Chien
Jassem Mougari as Mo
