Creating a sitcom is hard. In the first 25 minutes a writer has to introduce new characters, make it clear what they want and set a distinct comic tone to make sure we’re locked in for episode two. The first instalment of Danielle Ward’s Daddy Issues is a masterclass in all three.
The series starts when Gemma ( Aimee Lou Wood ) finds out she’s pregnant, her flatmate leaves and her hapless, divorced dad Malcolm ( David Morrissey ) moves into her spare room. Over the six episodes, we follow Gemma’s pregnancy until she gives birth to – spoiler – a baby, while Malcolm comes to terms with being a granddad when he’s barely begun to work out how to be a functioning human. It’s a sweet, often sentimental series but sublime comic razorblades lurk within.
We first meet hairdresser Gemma in an aeroplane toilet, getting to know a fellow passenger just before landing at Manchester airport. Wood plays to her strengths as the sunny, loveable but misguided young woman struggling to connect with the people around her (unless it’s via the genitals). Any romantic ideas Gemma has about the realities of single motherhood are deftly kicked away by her brilliantly deadpan GP (Margaret Cabourn-Smith).
“I was given a workshop on how to do this tactfully, but these appointments are only eight minutes long.” With the father not around, it’s up to Gemma and she doesn’t want to do this alone. Initially, she sets about finding a man.
Meanwhile, she co-opts former school friend, C.