TV Review: Siblings
It’s always a great feeling to discover a new Sitcom on a popular television channel that surprises you with its innovation and originality. Siblings is one of those programmes for me.
This show follows the lives of sibling housemates Hannah (Charlotte Ritchie) and Dan (Tom Stourton) as they go about their days attempting to do as little work as possible and spend their time having a good time instead. Hannah has a regular office job where her manager is a ‘functioning alcoholic’ which means it is incredibly easy for her to escape responsibility on a daily basis, and generally spend less than five hours at work each day. Dan, on the other hand, spends all his time at home being bored out of his dim-witted brain. This results in him doing the most moronic things yet somehow avoiding the consequences (due to luck, rather than skill), a rather over-used concept but approached in an entirely new way.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soMOeO_7Mdk
This is a Sitcom set in an entirely normal environment, yet what makes Siblings so insane is the characters within it. It’s a familiar habit of mine to allow my brain to tick over and get distracted while watching these kind of programmes but this one is an exception because of the wacky dialogue and actions of the brother and sister duo. As well as making many stupid decisions throughout, Hannah, in particular, is actually quite a horrible person (though I love her, but maybe that says a more about me than it says about anything else). For example, in order to make a good impression on her new boss in Episode One, Hannah makes it her duty to prove that the other office workers are not a patch on herself. Whilst in conversation with her new boss, Annette (Tracy Ann Oberman), and co-worker, Kevin, she suggests rather loudly:
“Kevin, what was that thing you were saying the other week about how gay people shouldn’t be allowed to live by the seaside?”
Siblings is a true breath of comedy-fresh-air and I look forward to watching the rest of the series over the coming weeks. You can catch up with the episodes so far on BBC iPlayer and watch Episode Three on BBC 3 at 10.30pm tonight.