Dreamland

Available on Sky Atlantic/NOW TV

Dreamland is the latest brainchild of Sharon Horgan, who has long since established herself as one of the most eminent and talented voices in television today. It is an adaptation of a short film (Morgana Robinson’s Summer) that Horgan created for Sky Arts in 2017 but is crucially only executive produced by her on this occasion.

Instead, writing duties are shared by five different voices, which perhaps explains why Dreamland struggles as badly as it does to establish an overall tone and so often regresses to the sort of broad humour that is generally associated with far inferior fare to the work Horgan is best known for. This is best characterised by the series’ annoying tendency to portray working class people as stupid and something to be sneered at, though whether it is aware of such a penchant is never entirely clear.

Also proving problematic is Dreamland’s length. At a mere six episodes, each of which are only half an hour in length, it struggles to establish its characters and their familial dynamic, which leaves its cast (particularly the debuting Lily Allen) struggling to impose themselves on the story. Freema Agyeman does a commendable job in her role, but is badly let down by a screenplay which is far too clumsy in its approach to everyday racism.

This is a shame because the premise of Dreamland, particularly coming off the back of Horgan’s outstanding work on Bad Sisters, offers plenty of intrigue. Alas, by its end, I was just keen to hop on the next bus out of Margate.