Why Mum’s the word for TV comedy
Lesley Manville and Lisa McGrillis reunite for a second series of family sitcom Mum, in which a woman tries to move on from the death of her husband. The pair tell Georgia Humphreys why the show’s gentle humour has struck such a chord with viewers
IF THERE’S one thing viewers of BBC Two’s Mum rave about, it’s the perfectly ordinary and believable characters.
Series one followed 59-year-old Cathy over the course of a year as she and her family attempted to move on from her husband’s death – covering minor and major life events with plenty of laughs along the way.
As she returns to play the warm-hearted character for a second run, actress Lesley Manville reckons writer Stefan Golaszewski has “cleverly caught a kind of zeitgeist” with the sitcom.
“I think it is getting better for older women,” the 61-year-old says of the TV and film industry. “There’s a huge market for women over 40, who want to go and see things that deal with their lives, that don’t distance them from it because they’re looking at some svelte 22-year-old in a Wonder Woman outfit.”
So what can we expect this series? Manville and co-star Lisa McGrillis tell us more.
Character developments
Mum has been such a hit that the BBC has already commissioned a third series.
“We weren’t prepared for how well it was going to be received,” admits Manville. “You think, ‘Oh God, how can Stefan write a better series? It’s so good in series one. But as soon as I read series two, I said, ‘He’s just surpassed himself.’”
One thing Golaszewski does well is ensure his characters, such as the tactless Kelly (girlfriend of Cathy’s son Jason), aren’t one-dimensional.
McGrillis calls the role an “absolute gift”, but admits: “I was quite nervous because she just is ridiculous in a lot of ways.”
“You’d be tempted to write off Kelly because she’s blonde and a bit ditzy,” remarks Manville. “But there’s so much more going on with all of us.”
“She’s got an incredibly vulnerable side so that you really feel sorry for her,” McGrillis adds. “On paper, she should be incredibly annoying, but you just also want to go, ‘Oh Kelly!’ and give her a cuddle.”
Love is in the air
What was clear from the very start of Mum is it’s not a show based on gags – something Manville really liked.
“It straddles drama and comedy,” she explains. “You can watch something and laugh and the next five minutes, you’re crying.”
At the emotional centre of the show is the relationship between Cathy and Michael (Peter Mullan).
“Michael is an old, old, old, old friend,” says Manville. “He was very much part of the family when she [Cathy] was married to her husband. She was married for 35 years and she’s been with one man.
“You’re treading on eggshells all the time because you are 60 and you haven’t dated for 40 years and you don’t quite know what to do.”
But Kelly and Jason (played by Sam Swainsbury) take a dim view of Michael.
“They think that he’s a nuisance and he’s pestering her and it’s just like, ‘Oh my God, can he not read the signals that she’s not interested?,’” says McGrillis. “Which is where the beautiful humour comes, because bubbling under the surface is this, ‘Will they? Won’t they?”’
Unique humour
Watch Mum and you’ll notice it rarely ventures outside Cathy’s house.
“I think that’s part of the charm of it – the half-anhour episode is half an hour in their life,” notes McGrillis. “We just see a little snippet of their day.”
Manville says she wouldn’t be interested in doing a “studio audience type comedy”.
“It is character-driven and if any of us ever goes near trying to make something funny, we’ll get slapped wrists immediately,” she remarks.
Close ties
One very human element is the relationship between Kelly and the ever-patient Cathy.
“I think she [Kelly] sees their friendship as genuine,” says McGrillis. “It doesn’t matter that there’s an age difference – Kelly’s got friends who are 82, she’s got friends who are 60. I love that.”
“It’s a bit like us slightly, isn’t it?” quips Manville.
Chatting with the pair, it’s evident they are extremely close – they’ve even had sleepovers at Manville’s house, near the studios where they shoot.
McGrillis says: “Obviously we were really excited to come back for series two to film it and that was brilliant. But I think we were most excited about getting to hang out with each other all day, every day.”
Mum is on BBC Two on Tuesday February 20.