Parents Series 1 Review

1st Aug 2013

In the world we now live in with mortgages impossible to acquire without huge deposits and for some the chance of losing their job and house in quick succession constantly around the corner, the realism of having to regress and live with our parents again is an all too possible reality. Parents’ takes this potential reality and creates a six episode comedy series addressing the typical things we would have to face.

The British comedy treasure Sally Philips (Smack the Pony, Green Wing, Miranda) leads the cast as the matriarch of the family having to move back with her parents after she loses her job and house. You have to give kudos to Parents that not only does it address a very relevant situation but it takes the 2.4 children formula and gives it a modern perspective with minimal attempts to say look at us aren’t we modern. What would once have been the story of a male protagonist bread winner having his world fall apart we have a woman as the financial head of the family.

Other than this twist in a family structure Parents does however rely heavily on stereotype. The lead’s parents are your typical bumbling “older generation”, the teenagers sullen, the husband an over the top useless man and the sister an evil bitch with daughters straight from The Shining. The situations which they face are just as you would expect if you were to put a grown woman back with her parents; regressing to teenage behaviour, the deluded city friends who have a one-up man ship relationship and madly clutching to a lifestyle that has been lost. It is formula, cliché and sometimes the writing is stilted and feels much too acted. And although the breadwinner role is reversed from tradition it does grate that a female breadwinner of course lost her job because she can’t control her emotions (darn our ovaries for making us crazy) and the husband has to be the definition of a useless man. The financial situation is swept over rather quickly to make way for the plot of moving to the parents. Yes it is a sitcom but you must query how much was their mortgage and how in debt were they if seemingly straight after she lost her job their house was repossessed?

Somehow though there is, to use a terrible cliché myself, heart to Parents. Despite it being a bit dull with its predictability there are moments which are quite touching and make you take stock of your own reaction when you revisit the family home. Particularly when Jenny stands up for her parents and a moment of tenderness and understanding between her and her daughter.

Although you could imagine Parents lasting a few series, and probably improving with time, it is not particularly strong and is primarily held up by Sally Philips and her ability to portray slapstick comedy, female hysteria and touching human emotion in one scene. It is simply good clean comedy fun but with nothing really new or interesting to offer.