This Country
BBC3, Mondays, from 10am
Ever since The Office established itself as pretty much the greatest TV comedy ever, built on a meticulously careful adherence to the rules of fly-on-the-wall programme-making, we’ve had myriad sitcoms using the fauxdocumentary format, from Modern Family to People Just Do Nothing. Just as I was beginning to think we’ve had enough mockumentaries, along came This Country, created by brother-and-sister Charlie and Daisy May Cooper. They play Kerry and Kurtan Mucklowe, two listless cousins doing very little in their Cotswolds village. When the first series arrived without much fanfare last year, it became a word-of-mouth phenomenon. It felt entirely authentic, both in the way it stuck to its beautifully understated documentary feel and also in its portrayal of rural working-class lives. From its very first scene, Kerry and Kurtan felt like real people, probably because Cotswolds natives Charlie and Daisy May are writing about what they know. This week’s series two opener is similarly judged to perfection. Kerry and Kurtan are keen to emphasise how full their lives have been since we last saw them. “Loads has happened,” says Kurtan. “Loads,” adds Kerry. “You missed so much… you missed the duck race.” There actually is a major development for Kurtan, who has a girlfriend he met via the “people you may know” section of Facebook. Other than that, the Vicar launches a “secret cinema club”, which is in no way secret, and Kerry is trying to do good deeds. And failing. But that’s it. You could easily assume it’s a serious doc about how little there is for these marginalised youths to do, if it wasn’t so funny.