Television
Fiona Rae
It’s a truth universally acknowledged that we hear about social workers only when something goes wrong. Television is almost no better – the last time we saw a social worker in a drama, she made a mistake that led to a child’s murder.
New British sitcom Damned (TVNZ OnDemand, from Tuesday) may go some way to rectifying this. It is written by comedians Jo Brand and Morwenna Banks and may be the zenith of Brand’s wry, warm humour.
“It’s really an attempt to portray, to some extent, the reality of social work,” Brand told the comedy.co.uk website, “but, obviously, our major effort was to produce a funny, warm comedy about a group of workmates who, in some ways, just happen to be social workers.
“I’d never really seen social work done on the TV before, particularly as a comedy, so it seemed a good place to go.”
Brand and Banks have assembled a lovely group of actors and comedians for the children’s services department of the “Elm Health Council”. Brand and Alan Davies play senior social workers Rose and Al, jaded by the job and constantly facing government
cuts, stress and excruciating office meetings.
Also on the team are toonice Martin (Kevin Eldon), former copper Nitin ( EastEnders’ Himesh Patel) and the wonderful Isy Suttie as hilariously inept receptionist Nat, who goes around the office watering the fake plants.
Brand is drawing on her own experience of having a mum who was a social worker and says that they aren’t the archetype that we tend to think of, “hippies with socks and sandals who have falafel sandwiches”.
“Social workers are a mixed bag, like any other group of workmates,” she says. “I suppose a bit of me wanted to humanise them to some degree.” She and Banks have fleshed out an office culture that is disturbingly real, from the kitchen that no one wants to clean, to the cluttered desks and gallows humour.
They also wanted to emphasise that, even though the two are supposed to be separate, work and home are intertwined. “When you’re a parent, or in a relationship, or bringing in your personal prejudices, or your illnesses, or whatever, it’s all tangled up.” Rose has a difficult ex-husband, three kids and a mum with dementia.
Brand’s background as a psychiatric nurse also feeds into Damned. “The more stressful your job, the more gallows-y your humour becomes.”