Sarah Millican's Support Group: Series One

The first series of this new witty sitcom Sarah Millican’s Support Group has been released on download after a good run on BBC Radio. The show stars Millican as Sarah, the runner of a support group. She is supported by “trained” expert Marion, played by Ruth Brett (Star of Fast and Loose), and cab driver sexist Terry, played by Simon Daye. Every episode of this 4-part series features “members of the public” coming into the Support Group for help with their problems. In fact, at core, this is a better acted and more realistic version of The Jeremy Kyle Show. It’s loving sprinkled with the wonderful writing of Sarah Millican and her lovely Geordie humour.

Another unique feature of this sitcom is Millican’s interactions with the studio audience, who she asks for memoirs similar to hers or her guests. These are usually the main laughs of the show, with the scripted sections not as funny. The way Millican and her co-stars bounce off the audience is quite amusing and comedic. The show also features regular BBC continuity announcer, Alan Deacott, play a version of himself, like Sarah. His regular advice for the guests, “Just Be Yourself…this is pre-recorded!” always gets the audience chuckling.

This show is the sort that could only work on radio. If it was rewritten for television, like Miranda Hart’s Joke Shop (Miranda), it would lose some of its fourth wall breaking charm. This is the kind of comedy only a great female comedy like Sarah Millican could pull off.