Thats hardly a risk of course.
Golaszewskis bestand by best, I mean worstcomic creations are so lacking in self-awareness theyd never notice the similarities.
Its a surprisingly moving moment from a character weve known so short a time.
Golaszewski does, andMumis all the richer for it.
Pauline never admits out loud that shes terrified of being cheated on again.
A spectacularly dim motor-mouth, at first Kelly seems to be solely an object of mockery.
Quickly though, her intense, unhinged vulnerability shows through.
The storys titular mum, Lesley Manvilles Cathy, is the one who sees it.
I observe the world.
Cathy really is an observer.
One reason Cathy is so well attuned to noticing other people in pain is that shes suffering tremendously herself.
Even if they are, to a one, ridiculous.
Well, not quite to a one.
This is whereMumbecomes a bit of a romantic fairy tale.
Peter Mullan plays Michael, an old pal and the best man at Cathy and her husbands wedding.
Every bit as beautiful is Manvilles subtle performance.
Her in-laws are entertainingly awful, the worst caricatures of old, hateful intolerance.
Not that theyd ever tell him.
The whole thing, a combination of subtle emotion and cartoony exaggerations, works.
This article originally appeared in June 2016.
Mum returns for a second series on BBC Two on Tuesday the 20th of February 2018 at 10pm.
