Ladies’ night

Someone over at the BBC thinks that 40-ish women are being under-represented. Well, hot 40-somethings, as Sarah Alexander is undeniably on the attractive end of the ugly stick spectrum. And I get the impression, and this is just me, that that person is a man.

“A smorgasbord of male attention and jealousies…”

Created and written by Oriane Messina and Fay Rusling (of Green Wing and Campus calibre) Me & Mrs Jones focuses on Ms Alexander’s Gemma, the aforementioned Mrs Jones of the title, as she juggles being a mum to young twin girls and to an older son, returning to dating life and regular clothes-horse-wrestling living. With her ex husband Jason played be Neil Morrissey, first date school gate chap and apparent ‘DILF’ role taken by Nathaniel Parker, and son’s new travelling best friend Billy portrayed by Misfits’ Robert Sheehan, there is no shortage of attractive males present either. It’s a regular smorgasbord of male attention and jealousies ready to bubble up with, surprisingly, Robert Sheehan playing it coolest after his manic and enjoyably squeaky previous turn on the small screen. The thing is, as they have a habit of admitting themselves, most of these men are ‘nobs’.

There is a middle ground between ‘idiot’ and ‘Mr Darcy smooth’. If Gemma is allowed to be rounded (although slightly hyper and dishevelled) then why not her supporting cast? It feels a little as if someone has spotted this struggling but surviving single mother and decided that she deserves a treat and served up a platter full of dishes of the male variety. A little overwhelming and not necessarily something she really wants in such great quantities. And that’s putting to one side the ickiness that would probably be viewed a lot more seriously if the gender roles were swapped of her being presented with a flirtation with her eldest son’s pal. Really? Nothing wrong with an age gap, live and let love, but if you’ve got a family dynamic set up it does feel more than a little odd to be crossing it quite so spectacularly.

That’s not to say that this doesn’t have redeeming features. The cast are excellent and the odd details of vulnerability are nicely played by Parker and Alexander, with the kids in Outnumbered/My Family mode of picky foods and leery teenagehood (not counting the enigmatic and scarily charismatic Sheehan as he seems less teenage friend, more dangerous second youth opportunity, but still ace).

First episodes of a new series are tricky beasts as you’ve got to set the scene, introduce the characters and have some semblance of a short plot whilst introducing a suggestion of a series arc. The thing is, and this is what I was getting at when I started, it’s a shame that what we are delivered is an inverted version of a criticism routinely levelled at a lot of comedies; a rounded but flawed protagonist with a plot driven in part by their hormones, coupled with a variety of two-dimensional tasty treats for their fingers (or other parts) to waver over in delicious indecision. Surely there’s more to life as a hot 40-ish woman than that?

Me & Mrs Jones, BBC1, Friday 12 October 2012