Mutual Friends (BBC-1 2008, Keeley Hawes, Alexander Armstrong)

Comedy drama series Mutual Friends sees a groups of late thirty-something friends lives coming together once more following the suicide of one of their number.

Martin and Jen Grantham seems to have it all, Martin is a lawyer and the pair have a nice life, even if Jen is concerned that Martin is not as attentive as he used to be. Patrick meanwhile is like the boy who never grew up, wealthy (on the surface anyway, his mail order clothing firm is actually going downhill), vintage sports car driving and bedding as many girls as he can get his hands.

When Jen reveals to Martin after the funeral of their best friend Carl Cato that she was unfaithful to Martin with Carl, it sets off a chain of events that changes everyone’s lives forever.

The set up for the various relationships was quite clever but one gets the impression that the writers couldn’t decide whether to go for laughs or drama and fall somewhere between the two. The piece as a whole seems quite dated and cliched although some of the dialogue redeemed things somewhat. The casting was great though and Marc Warren is really good.

production details
UK / BBC One – Hat Trick Productions / 6×60 minute episodes / Broadcast Tuesday 26 August – Tuesday 30 September 2008

Writers: Richard Pinto, Anil Gupta / Titles: Liquid TV / Costumes: John Krausa, Caroline Pitcher / Production Design: Tom Bowyer / Music: Ben Bartlett / Executive Producer: Mark Redhead / Producer: Rob Bullock / Directors: Catherine Morshead

cast
MARC WARREN as Martin Grantham
KEELEY HAWES as Jen Grantham
ALEXANDER ARMSTRONG as Patrick Turner
CLAIRE RUSHBROOK as Leigh Cato
SARAH ALEXANDER as Liz
LEE ROSS as Harry Seed
EMILY JOYCE as Sarah
NAOMI BENTLEY as Anita
RHASHAN STONE as Dev
ALISTAIR PETRIE as Carl Cato
NATALIE COX as Katie
IAN HUGHES as Jolyon
PATRICK KNOWLES as James
JOSHUA SARPHIE as Dan Grantham

EPISODE GUIDE
1. EPISODE 1
2. EPISODE 2
3. EPISODE 3
4. EPISODE 4
5. EPISODE 5
6. EPISODE 6