Skip to content
Daddy Issues perpetuates the the ongoing trend of the decline of the family unit, as 20-something hairstylist Gemma (Aimee Lou Wood – Living) with the uber-hot Sarah Hadland as her boss, Rita, sleeps around, and is then surprised to find she’s with child. If she’d only stuck with the motto: “One up the bum, no harm done“.
For all of the male gender in this programme, they may as well each walk around with a sign around their neck which states, “All men are bastards“, since if they’re in her age bracket, they’re all considered to be sex-hungry zero-commitment individuals.
Gemma hails from the remnants of a dysfunctional never-tight-knit family. Her mum, Davina (Susan Lynch – Bloodlands), ran off abroad with another man and all the family savings; her sister, Catherine (Sharon Rooney – Barbie), is in prison for attempted murder of her husband; and that leaves her father, Malcolm (David Morrissey – Sherwood), who’s living in the shittiest of flats, with a toilet so disgusting that he would rather urinate in a jam jar in his own room.
He’d also rather be anywhere else, partly due to his disgusting, psychotic neighbour, Derek (David Fynn).
Meanwhile, with no female support in her life, Gemma finds herself in desperate need of help in her situation, along with a new flatmate, as Keely is moving out, following becoming pregnant, herself.
So, there’s only one way this is going to go, and both her and Malcolm will end up sharing the place and the rent, leading to a number of gross situations, such as the overgrown manchild using his coat to clean up the mess when a bin bag splits, and even inviting Derek around, when he should be long shot of him. Why Gemma doesn’t simply instruct him to leave in no uncertain terms, I don’t know.
While her situation is bad, the good thing is that there are quite a lot of laughs in this – which is quite rare for a modern TV sitcom. They’re rarely laugh-out-loud, but still quite large in number, such as when one man tries to kiss Gemma just as she thinks her flat has been burgled, and she turns her head away in disgust.
And one major plus is that a lot of it is filmed in and around Stockport, although I do question why writer Danielle Ward decided to refer to particular pub near the market, Castle Chambers, as “The Red Rock”, when Red Rock is the name of the cinema-based complex somewhere else in the town entirely.
And how come a coffee in Stockport’s Underbank only costs £2.50? Try at least £4!
Still, I use the Three+ app in order to get a drink for £1 from Caffe Nero. Sorted.
So far, I’ve watched two episodes, and am enjoying it, so I’ll be checking out more, soon.
Daddy Issues begins on tomorrow on BBC3 at 9pm, and then shown again on Friday at 9.30pm, but isn’t yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD. However, once announced, it will appear on the New DVD Blu-ray 3D and 4K releases UK list.
From day one, all episodes be on the BBC iPlayer.
Director: Catherine Morshead
Producer: Lynn Roberts
Writer/Creator: Danielle Ward
Music: James Righton
Cast:
Gemma: Aimee Lou Wood
Malcolm: David Morrissey
Derek: David Fynn
Rita: Sarah Hadland
Davina: Susan Lynch
Xander: Arian Nik
Catherine: Sharon Rooney
Ben: Tom Stourton
Russell: Matthew Durkan
Andy: William Fox
Older Man: Colin Bluemenau
Prison Guard: Kylie Butler
Doctor Rush: Margaret Cabourn-Smith
Older Woman: Martha Cope
Russell: Matthew Durkan
Barista: Aisha Hemissi
Keely: Alexandra Mardell
Danny: Al Weaver
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.