Crashing Review: All The Twenties Awkwardness In Hilarious Comedy Form

[Photo: Channel 4]

All those cringe moments in your twenties? Be prepared to relive them in Channel 4′s brilliant new comedy, Crashing, which starts tonight at 10pm.

The brainchild of Broadchurch actress Phoebe Waller-Bridge, the 30 year old writes and stars in this unflinchingly funny take on everyday young adult struggles—from unrequited love, to holding down jobs, to flat share nightmares—as five twenty-somethings (and one older divorcee) come together to live in an abandoned hospital.

[Photo: Channel 4]

If you like Friends or Girls, you’ll be pleased to know there are elements of both of those shows in the series but it’s also quintessentially British in a lot of ways, too. No-one does awkward quite like us Brits and Waller-Bridge perfectly captures that in the first episode as her character Lulu is reunited with her best friend/secret love of her life Anthony (Damien Molony), who is now engaged to Kate (Louise Ford, aka girlfriend of actual Mr. Bean).

The cast is perfectly rounded out by Broadchurch’s Jonathan Bailey as the equal parts grotesque-yet-attractive Sam, Amit Shah as loveable Fred, and Julie Dray as free spirit Frenchwoman Melody. Chewing Gum’s Susan Wokoma appears in a few episodes, too, stealing scenes as no-nonsense Jessica.

[Photo: Channel 4]

The blossoming friendship between Sam and Fred, in particular, is brilliant TV and testament that Waller-Bridge has managed to pen some pretty great characters with depth—despite their outward air of being selfish, no-good millennials. 

Oh, and any show that can make us cry-laugh at a song about orgasms, backed by a ukelele, is a winner.