Friends for ever
Lydia West and Nicola Coughlan play best pals about to hit their 30s
NEW COMEDY Big Mood Thursday,10pm &10.35pm, C4 (box set, Channel 4)
A close friendship and a mentalhealth condition are at the heart of C4’s new comedy Big Mood, which follows the lives of best mates Maggie (Nicola Coughlan) and Eddie (Lydia West).
Set in east London, the six-parter finds the fun-loving pals on the cusp of turning 30 and facing a crossroads.
‘They’re realising that stuff that was fine in their 20s really isn’t flying any more and they can no longer get away with it,’ explains Bridgerton and Derry Girls star Coughlan. ‘Maggie, who has bipolar, is particularly struggling to manage her mental health. Getting a diagnosis is one thing but learning how to manage it is a lot more complicated.’
As the series begins with a double bill this week, Maggie, an aspiring playwright, is buzzing with excitement about returning to her former school to give a talk to the pupils.
‘Maggie has convinced herself that her old history teacher, Mr Wilson [Tim Downie], is the love of her life’, says Coughlan.
‘She wants to go back and hook up with him.’
Meanwhile,
Eddie, who runs a bar called Wet
Mouth that she’s inherited from her late father, has alarm bells ringing when it becomes clear that Maggie has stopped taking her bipolar medication.
‘They have a complicated friendship. Eddie is like Maggie’s safety blanket, she’s the caregiver, but Eddie’s got her own issues with self-esteem,’ says It’s a Sin star West, 30. ‘The two of them are co-dependent. This is like a platonic love story. What happens when you’ve gone through a traumatic time in your 20s and come out of it? What’s next?’ Penned by writer Camilla Whitehill, the series features Niamh Cusack, who plays Maggie’s mother Gillian, and Joanna Page, who cameos as herself in the second episode, when Eddie throws a Love Actually-themed party for Maggie’s
30th birthday and Page, who starred in the 2003 movie, is the special guest.
‘We had a great time, though I have a terrible rat phobia and, unfortunately, rats end up featuring quite heavily at the party,’ says Coughlan, 37. ‘Maggie ends up holding one!’