Conversation with Friends, BBC
In a cultural landscape where cinematic universes are seemingly all the rage, it’s fittingly quaint that the BBC seem to be carving out a small-screen cosmos of their own that is dedicated solely to existential dread and doomed romances.
The source of their inspiration is Sally Rooney, an Irish author who rose to prominence in the wake of the Beeb’s excellent adaptation of her novel Normal People. That show set tongues wagging for a number of reasons, though one suspects most of the water cooler conversations it inspired were mostly focused on the amount of shagging that went on in it.
In that respect, Conversation with Friends is a more understated and complex affair. Focusing on Frances (Alison Oliver), an emotionally repressed student with a penchant for the written word, and her affair with married man Nick (Joe Alwyn), it is a densely layered story that is laudable for its attempt to get under the skin of the human condition.
That does not mean it’s an easy watch. Unlike Normal People, its central characters are not especially likeable and rarely cut sympathetic figures. In fact, they are mostly impulsive, self-concerned individuals who unwittingly (but not always) wreak havoc on the lives of those they profess to love.
But that is the uncomfortable truth that lies at the heart of this series, and Rooney’s oeuvre as a whole. People are impulsive and self-concerned, and often do hurt the ones they love. That is because we are - and to some extent always will be - flawed and, while I do not wholly subscribe to the pessimistic through line of this work, this is an uncomfortable truth we must all make peace with.
Whether the repetitive (and at times predictable) narrative warranted a 12 episode run is debatable, but this is another solid adaptation by the BBC and directors Lenny Abrahmson and Leanne Welham. The cast are also stirring throughout, with Oliver and Alwyn ably supported by the excellent Sasha Lane and Jemima Kirke throughout.
Ultimately, this is the sort of challenging and emotionally complex work you want from the small screen.
