“Your situation sounds f…ing awful – I’d love to hear more about it.”
The line is from season one of the hit British TV series Catastrophe; the situation in question the pregnancy resulting from a “six-night stand” in London involving US ad exec Rob and Irish primary school teacher Sharon.
“We’ve seen this tale told a thousand times but maybe not quite as bluntly,” says co-creator and star Sharon Horgan. “It’s an unromantic romantic comedy and the catastrophe is simply the catastrophe that is any marriage/kids/relationship.”
Catastrophe’s six episodes over its first season track how Rob and Sharon try to fall in love without messing it up too terribly, with all the difficulties that involves. What comes out is a refreshingly original mix of raw relationship honesty that makes you laugh, cry and squirm with awkward recognition – often all in the same scene.
BAFTA-winning Horgan and co-creator Rob Delaney first met through Twitter in 2010 – a fitting place to connect for the Boston-born stand-up comic Comedy Central has called the social networking platform’s “Funniest Person”.
However, it was during real-world visits to London and Los Angeles that the pair became true friends and decided they wanted to make a show starring characters named after themselves.
Delaney says his favourite part of making the show is writing it, with the unfolding scenes of a relationship under pressure being very tightly scripted.
“We’re pretty ‘in love with words’,” he says. “Or I guess you could say ‘control freaks’ when it comes to what everyone says and how they say it.
“Like it or don’t, we write in our own specific manner. My research suggests that people between 30 and 50 suffer physical pangs of recognition when they watch certain parts. Also they laugh a lot. People older or younger than that just laugh.
“My hope is that what’s original about the show is that it has the highest LPMs (laughs per minute) for something so gritty and unflinching.”
As well as the regular depictions of sex – before, during and after – the show covers the hazards of older pregnancies and the status anxiety and hypocrisies present among middle-class “friends”.
Horgan, who is married with two children, says the stakes are much higher for relationships that begin slightly later in life.
“Choices and decisions take a different slant,” she says. “It’s harder in that the clock is ticking and there’s less choice I guess. Easier in that sometimes you just think ‘ah f… it’ and dive in.
“I think from my perspective I went from monogamous relationship to monogamous relationship, with a few dicey entanglements in between. I’m not sure I’ve ever ‘dated’ per se. My view may be warped though.”
Delaney, who is also married with three children, says he “would likely be very, very bad” at dating now.
“I don’t know how a modern relationship differs from one that happened in 1590,” he says. “Other than that now they work better when men care about what women think and feel. Fortunately in our show, Rob cares about Sharon and tries to make her happy.
“I suppose when you’re older you know what you want better, you know who you are better, hopefully.”
Another highlight for the show’s creators – and for the audience – is seeing Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia in the Star Wars films) feature as Rob’s eccentric Bostonian mother.
Horgan says it was “a dream, a laugh, surreal” seeing Fisher up on screen performing their lines, while Delaney describes it as “beyond amazing”.
“She is a legend and so funny,” Delaney says. “I will never get over the fact that she’s in the show. As far as I’m concerned, she’s been in The Blues Brothers, Star Wars, and our show. It’s that direct of a trajectory.”
Catastrophe also features London-based Aussie actor Daniel Lapaine (Muriel’s Wedding) as Rob’s “friend” Dave – the character who delivers the aforementioned line about Rob’s “situation”.
“I love him,” Delaney says. “He’s constantly singing Waltzing Matilda and throwing boomerangs at me. I think our humour works with Australians because Australian humour seems to be in between UK and US humour in a very nice cosy position.”
Critics and audiences internationally have already embraced Catastrophe, which has a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and the show been green lit for four seasons.
Audiences can also enjoy seeing Ashley Jensen from Extras and Ugly Betty as Sharon’s largely awful friend Fran.
Horgan, familiar from her earlier BBC hit Pulling, was voted in Variety’s top 10 breakout TV performances in 2015 and is currently executive producer on Divorce, the show she created for HBO starring Sarah Jessica Parker.
Delaney is touring his stand-up show in the UK while keeping his 1.2 million Twitter followers in stitches.
Catastrophe Season One is available now on on Digital HD and DVD.
