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Big Mood is a new vehicle for Derry Girls‘ Nicola Coughlan (Barbie) as Maggie, where her opening gambit is to go back to her old school that’s “like Grange Hill, but somehow less glamourous” to give a talk, and impress the next generation… as well as potentially getting it on with history teacher Mr Wilson, who she always fancied, an early conversation with her and best friend Eddie (Lydia West – It’s A Sin) being:
- Eddie: “So, if Mr Wilson had tried it on, you’d have banged him?”
Maggie: “Yes, but cruicially, because he didn’t try it on, that means he wouldn’t shag a child”
Eddie: “We should nominate him for a Pride of Britain award(!)”
So, you get the tone very early on.
The pair are reaching 30 and at a crossroads in their lives, and for Maggie – who claims to be a playwright – bumps into an old ‘friend’ at the school whoshe didn’t want to see again. But do you think her speech goes well? Or will it turn into an absolute cluster? Well, if she’d actually written a speech it would’ve been a help…
So far, I’ve seen two episodes, the second set around Maggie’s 30th birthday, and having a Love Actually Surprise Party, which does have an amusing scene where she wants to chat to a hot guy, but Eddie dominates the conversation with him, as that rang a bell with me, all gender roles reversed.
However, it just feels like it was done so much better with Roisin Conaty’s Gameface. I’d like that to come back.
In Big Mood, there’s lots of fast-talking, so while all episodes were available for review, they didn’t have subtitles, so if I do watch any more, I’ll check them out on All4. They’re necessary, since without, quite a few punchlines just disappear into the ether as the dialogue is unintelligible.
Big Mood begins tonight on Channel 4 at 10pm with two episodes. All episodes are now on All 4.
The series is not yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD.
Director: Rebecca Asher
Producer: Georgie Fallon
Creator/Writer: Camilla Whitehill
Cast:
Maggie: Nicola Coughlan
Eddie: Lydia West
Mr Wilson: Tim Downie
Receptionist: Sarah Durham
Klent: Eamon Farren
Will: Robert Gilbert
Ryan: Luke Featherston
Herself: Joanna Page
Gillian: Niamh Cusack
Jay: Ukweli Roach
Johnny: Tom Rhys Harries
Owen: Stephen Sobal
Anya: Amalia Vitale
Alison: Freya Parker
Ms Finch: Shuna Snow
Mr Philips: Lasco Atkins
Aunt Elaine: Kate Milone
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.