The Big Door Prize

Available on Apple TV now

Apple have settled on a somewhat familiar formula for their comedy series as of late. There’s usually at least one big name attached to the project, its set often includes implausibly gorgeous properties that usually belie the characters’ humble professions, and its tone is, more often than not, very twee.

That is certainly true of The Big Door Prize, with Chris O’Dowd taking top billing as a humble high school teacher whose life, along with those of the residents of his sleepy hometown, is thrown off kilter by the arrival of a mysterious machine that predicts its user’s life potential. Such a concept alludes to a deeper meaning than anything the show (which is itself adapted from M.O. Walsh’s novel of the same name) ever manages to display, with showrunner David West Read (of Schitt’s Creek fame) electing to keep things safe and mostly inconsequential.

Nonetheless, The Big Door Prize is not without its charms. O’Dowd is typically amiable, co-star Gabrielle Dennis does good work in a more polarising role, while relative newcomers Sammy Fourlas and Djouliet Amara arguably steal the show as forbidden teenage lovers. Subsequently, this is likely to please viewers in search of some harmless, good-natured fluff.