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Significant Other (2023) begins very ‘A Man Called Ove‘ (also A Man Called Otto), because lead male character Sam (Youssef Kerkour – Home) is trying to kill himself, but gets interrupted in the process… albeit, in this case, it’s because neighbour Anna (Katherine Parkinson – Spreadsheet) thinks she’s having a heart attack and has called an ambulance, and needs somewhere to wait in the meantime, hence, needs to impose upon him.
As both end up in hospital, they learn more about each other, yet since he has no-one to care for him outside, in order to leave and go home, he needs a… significant other. Cue: Anna.
Mr Kerkour also needs someone to shave his back & arms, as he’s like an escaped yeti.
In the first two episodes, add in some awkward conversation between the two, some bad cringe comedy – such as when she got an Uber to come home from the hospital, why did it take so long to dawn in the fact that she should let him in because they’re both going to the same address, and it’s an age-old tale of two hopeless losers finding solace in that fact that they’re in the same boat.
On the plus side, this dross is filmed in Manchester, and somehow – especially for ITV – has no continuity announcer during the credits when there’s plenty of time for them to bellow about fuck all.
However, while Sam is desperate to get back with ex Shelley (Kéllé Bryan), I’m not desperate to watch any more of this.
Additionally, it’s sponsored by Greggs with some painfully unfunny jokes, delivered by either Emily Atack, some black guy I can’t identify, and that irritant who turns his Scotch accent up to eleven for the Love Island promos on ITV2. That’s probably where this junk should’ve gone.
And I labelled this “Significant Other (2023)” so as not to be confused (in terms of SEO on my website) with the 2022 film shown on Paramount+ of the same name.
Significant Other (2023) continues next Sunday on ITV at 10.15pm, but the whole thing is now on ITVX. It’s not yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD.
Director: David Sant
Producers: Debs Pisani
Writers: Dana Fainaru, Dana Modan, Hamish Wright
Music: Christian Henson
Cast:
Anna: Katherine Parkinson
Sam: Youssef Kerkour
Shelley: Kéllé Bryan
Jen: Tori Allen-Martin
Dr. Reddick: Tasha Lim
Ray: Mark Heap
Damian: Ben Bailey Smith
Gina: Sue Vincent
Mr. Fitzgerald: Art Campion
Paul: William Ash
Imran: Nasser Memarzia
Gym Attendant: Spencer Wilding
Cathy: Olivia Poulet
Johnny: Shaun Williamson
Nurse: Andrea Crewe
Malik: Eddison Burch
Tommo: Linford Johnson
Josh: Dave Jones
Father Hayden: Kevin Davids
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.