Mum
BBC TWO, 10.00PM; NI, 11.15PM
It’s easy to forget that underneath the broad jokes and daft observations, Mum is really a quietly devastating show about grief, and the damage that we can do both to ourselves and others. This week, however, those themes are very much at the fore in the strongest episode of this series so far. It begins in farce as Kelly (Lisa Mcgrillis), excited about going on holiday to Cyprus – “it’s actually one country but split down the middle”, – wakes Cathy (Lesley Manville) up at five o’clock in the morning and ends with a heartfelt and honest scene that will surely break even the hardest of hearts.
Along the way we’re treated to the return of Kelly’s bullying mother Carol (Tanya Franks), who’s still capable of reducing her daughter to a quivering wreck with a well-placed “Come on Kel, don’t be needy”, and pushy Pauline’s (Dorothy Atkinson) expert guide to going to the theatre: “The more bored you are, the better the play.” The night’s real star, though, is Peter Mullan’s tired and emotional Michael (his lack of sleep is written all over his craggy face), who, after weeks of patiently going to garden centres, finally plucks up the courage to tell Cathy just how he feels. Sarah Hughes