I see that this show has divided opinions. Personally, I love it.

 

Season one starts with the funeral of Cathy’s husband and each of the first six episodes are scattered through the next year at Cathy’s house and follow her and her family. The relationships are beautifully observed with delicate writing and fine acting.

At the centre is Cathy (Lesley Manville) and Michael (Peter Mullan) whose will it/won’t it relationship is developed with aching slowness and the depth of emotion is so contained that it’s almost all in the smallest detail of the performance – glances and smiles, hope and frustration. There’s a temptation to seek Cathy as passive and put-upon, but she has the measure of all the people around her and she deals with them on her own terms. She’s no one’s fool. Michael, meanwhile, is totally lovelorn but incapable of action.

Then there’s Kelly. Kelly is brilliant. She’s totally, hopelessly daft but as the show unrolls she’s the one who deepens most – her relationship with her mother (in episode 3) and her conversation with foxes (episode 5) are some of the show’s highlights. There’s a bit in episode five where she asks Cathy if she’s laughing at her or with her and, while we might have laughed at Kelly earlier in the series, there’s no doubt we’re laughing with her now – it’s a very nice piece of writing and performance. Lisa McGrillis manages to be both maddeningly irritating and sweetly innocent in the same moment.

The supporting characters are also excellent – Pauline is tooth- achingly annoying and yet believably damaged, Derek is hopeless, Jason is useless and Maureen and Reg – Cathy’s parents-in-law – are fantastically dysfunctional and grumpy.

Normally I like my comedy a bit more in your face than Mum but the quality of the performance and writing really raises this to another level. It’s a show I find myself grinning broadly at from the opening scenes to the closing credits. I hope there’ll be more.

I watched all 6 episodes of Mum, I was hooked after the first and I’m praying there will be at least a season 2! A perfect cast for this sad comedy – All through the episodes you are left without doubt that the death of ‘Dad’ has an impact on each character with the exception of new girlfriend ‘Kelly’ (Lisa McGrillis)who is only meeting ‘Mum’ at the funeral – Lisa makes Kelly the most endearing girl in the world, I howled with laughter at her social skills, yet I had tears in my eyes listening to her Chav mothers references to her and Kelly’s brave attempts to pretend she couldn’t care less when really every word was a dagger in her heart – Cathy (mum) played by the brilliant Lesley Manville, has the temperament I pray for and her kindness to Kelly has the warmth of a log fire in winter – The scene when Cathy finds Kelly so broken at her mothers character assassination of her was beautiful! You will need tissues for this one, one for wiping the tears of laughter away and one for the tears of sadness watching Kelly, such a lovely caring soul, being demolished by her own mother, when she wishes Cathy was her Mum and Kelly wanting so badly to get it right, not for selfish reasons but for everyone else. When a character makes me want to hold them lovingly I know the actress/actor has played the part perfectly – Wow! Brilliant from the top down!

I watched “Mum” on a whim and I was hooked from the opening credits (the “Cup” song is both catchy and apt for this series – you’ll see why),

 

I’m familiar with both lead actors Peter Mullan and Lesley Manville and they bring heavyweight class ability to the rolls of divorcée and widow respectively. Now add in some younger talent, great writing, direction and production values and you know you’re in the for a treat. While “Mum” is often dry and wryly observed, it’s equally laugh-out-loud funny.

TL;DR version (there are lots of long reviews) if you like beautifully-observed, family dynamic comedy of the type only the Brits are good at, this is a a delight. With a colourful cast of larger-than-life oddballs, Manville and Mullan lead us through a year in the life of the world’s most tolerant widow.

Just be thankful you’re not there and please, do make your tea in a pot!

I somehow managed to miss this during its original transmission, so have just watched every episode and I have to say I’m hooked.

 

Cathy is recently widowed and just trying to get on with life, but it’s the others around that keep throwing her curve balls, whether it’s her well meaning son Jason, who perpetually walks around the house in his pants, his well meaning if absent minded girlfriend Kelly, or considerate brother Derek and his social climbing girlfriend Pauline. Cathy is the one who’s world should have fallen apart, but instead is a level headed, strong woman, who is basically just a delightful woman.

Lesley Manville, an actress I’ve always loved shows that comedy is as easy for her as drama, she is superb. I’m hooked on Kelly’s character, Lisa McGrillis is a delight with great comedy timing. The whole cast are great, the parents in law always cause a few laughs, so realistic.

I’m reminded of Grandma’s House from a few years back, it’s a suburban comedy, nothing slapstick or outrageous, just great character play, coupled with top notch scripts.

A joy. 9/10 Roll on Series 2 and 3.

I have recently started watching this series (1) again after having lost the thread when the series was originally broadcast on the BBC.

 

This is a TV sitcom / drama that is a joy to behold. The exquisite and nuanced characterisation, mellow pace across differing sinusoidal melancholic – comedic storylines and superb acting (Lesley Manville is derserving of all nominations!) makes for very special television.

The plot revolves around the death of the husband of the central character (i.e ‘Mum’) and in the aftermath of that awful event the personalities that inhabit her house and life.

In short (and having only watched the first 3 episodes of Series 1) I would recommend this if you like intelligent, nuanced screenplay, great acting and an all round wry look at the everyday lives of us.

I watched this, after finding it on the recommendations list on this site (i.e. “other people that liked this, also liked THIS”).

 

Not knowing what to expect (but encouraged by the rating), I binged- watched all 6 episodes and found myself genuinely dismayed that it was over!

As for some of the characters–well…the actors play their parts so well and it is written SO WELL that I cry every time someone is mean to Kelly (She’s just dumb, and doesn’t know any better. Last I checked that wasn’t a crime, or a reason to be mean to someone), and frankly, the character of her mother, and the way she treated Kelly (who isn’t SO dumb that she doesn’t realize her mom is a mean snake), just makes me want to four-five her. I guess that’s because I’ve known real people like that. Mean people suck. The fact that Cathy (the Mum) puts up with Kelly’s numerous verbal faux pas is really endearing. She seems to understand, and empathizes with her. Just what a Mum ought to do! I know a lot of people that lack the internal “filter,” so I guess I’m used to this, too!

Anytime something makes the viewer “feel” something (besides disgust!), it’s a GOOD thing. Some of the characters are awkward with each other, but I think this would happen in real life, too.

I sincerely hope they do a second season. I know that BBC sometimes does these little half-shows like this (Fleabag was another), but I hope there is a chance to develop this into something long term.

Finely observed emotional generational dramedy in an English suburban setting.

 

Three generations of misfits plodding along in an English and Scottish miasma of restrained emotions, mostly unspoken feelings and self-obsessed selfish insouciance.

This is a satisfying production, all three series hit the spot, anthough not necessarily binge worthy. By which I mean: Some things are better savoured over time. It is a slow burner with a strong emotional impact, English style.

The writing and acting is focussed and sharp lines trigger laughter at times. From the start, it managed to make me care about the characters, and that is is an ever more rare skill in these times of endless entertainment. The characters also seem relatable at different levels.

This is why Brits pay the TV licence fee, because it delivers a mirror for a certain strand of British society, that skewers so much with such economy. Wonderful usage of silence, along with the sensitive acting by Leslie Manville and all the supporting cast.

I want more from this writer Stefan Golaszewski, and his previous work “Him and Her” was also delightful. So I hope his muse(s) continue to trigger such output.

Mum is a beautiful slice-of-life dramedy. It’s deceptively nuanced, as the premise is strikingly simple. Each season spans an entire year; however, each episode takes place on only one day, and all episodes are at Cathy’s (Mum) house. In other words, an entire year’s worth of narrative is revealed in only six days over the course of the year, all in the same physical location. Each episode is like a self-contained one-act play but it builds upon what came before it. There could be two or three months in between episodes – “May” and “August”, for instance – and the viewer can infer what has or has not happened or how certain events were processed or disregarded by the manner in which the characters relate in the following episode. There is much that “happens” off-camera; much is unspoken. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like it. It allows for a rich and nuanced narrative despite that an entire season is literally only six days out of a year. With such a set-up, the viewer learns to appreciate the characters, their personalities, their motivations, their strengths and their frailties, as the narrative simmers beneath the surface and in the time in between each interlude. The writing is phenomenal. Bravo to Stefan Golaszewski, the show’s creator, writer, and oft-director.

 

Lesley Manville is perfectly cast as Mum. She portrays Cathy delicately, as in many ways, Cathy is the straight-person to the other characters’ peculiarities. The rest of the cast is excellent too. Cathy’s son, Jason, his sweet and often (but unintentionally) insulting girlfriend, Kelly, Cathy’s in-laws, her brother (Derek) and his uptight, status-conscious girlfriend (Pauline), and a family friend Michael round out the core cast. I love the characters; I love how they interrelate. There is something realistic about this show even though no one in the world has the presence of mind to be like Cathy, have her patience, and accept everyone and their eccentricities in the manner Lesley Manville portrays. Still, it’s beautiful to watch. All of its brilliance would likely be lost were this to be a Hollywood production. In most American productions, characters are largely caricatures, which makes the shows fundamentally uninteresting, as they are plot-driven rather than character-driven. In Mum, the characters are what drives the show – their perceptions, their wants, their insecurities, their personalities. Again, each episode occurs only on one day and always at Cathy’s home. In a sense, “nothing” happens. There is no forced narrative device to manipulate the characters to do something; there doesn’t need to be.

There are presently two seasons; the third and final season has completed filming and is supposed to air sometime in 2019. I understand narratively why the third season will be the last, but I am sorry to see it go. Mum is a near-perfect character-driven show with outstanding writing.

I love this show. I wish there were more like it.

Highly Recommened.

I originally watching this series from series 2 – a strange place to start and it took a while for the character development to occur – however when I watched series 1 everything set its self in place…. Focusing on the woman of the household played by Lesley Manville, it is quite a heartwarming situ comedy which seems to place itself on certain lifetime events from within the family perspective be it mothers day or children moving out or going on holiday… The children in the show are probably the weakest element of it – as they portray stereo typical teenagers yet appear in the body’s of 20 somethings and over empathises the naivety you expect from a 16 year old… That being said the dialogue and and issues tackled are on point and I often wonder about my own mother and family experiences – is that how she felt, is that what went on in her brain…

 

It is not the most polished of shows and the direction could be a bit more speedy and the children a little less idiotic however it has had me close to tears on occasion which for a 6’3 male is a hard thing to do.

Kudos to the team, I hope they continue to bring this different comedic performance into future series