“Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,” wrote Robert Frost , in a poem that has terrorised schoolchildren for a century. Frost’s vision of the crucial junctures of existence – of the ambivalence towards the roads, both followed and avoided – has become our defining metaphor of regret. But modern life isn’t a “yellow wood”, with a couple of dusty paths splitting like a divining rod.
Modern life is a spaghetti junction. And it’s this tangle of possibilities that governs We Might Regret This , a new BBC Two comedy-drama about friends and family, work and play, and the inconvenient spaces in between. Freya (Kyla Harris) is a Canadian artist and tetraplegic , meaning she has paralysis that affects the arms and legs, who has relocated to London to live with her older boyfriend, Abe (Darren Boyd).
They have a comfy, middle-class lifestyle, but Freya also requires round-the-clock care. That’s where her estranged friend Jo (Elena Saurel) comes in. Showing up very early for a party (“What’s 10 hours between friends?” she asks Abe; “About 10 hours,” he replies), she ingratiates her way into a role as Freya’s personal assistant.
And that’s the source of the speculative regret: will they come to rue this blurring of their friendship with a professional relationship? How will Freya cope with vulnerability around her brash bestie? And how will Jo handle a transactional and, at times, demanding occupation? An added complexity is the presence of Abe’s other .