Adrian Lester

Scenes Of A Sexual Nature review

Ewan McGregor, Tom Hardy and Sophie Okonedo are big names doing small roles in this pleasant 2006 portmanteau film.

A double bill of lockdown larks with David Tennant, Simon Evans and Michael Sheen. Tonight, a new cast member, Adrian Lester, is dragged in by Simon to make him look good. Meanwhile, David finishes a draft of his screenplay and Michael worries about his neighbour when an ambulance turns up.

The Beeb has managed to hash out a few frothy, camp, enjoyable dramas over the years with the likes of Cutting It and Playing The Field. Now, it's got a new one to add to the ranks, with the debut of Mutual Friends.

Making a decent drama is hardly rocket science: keep it simple, write about what you know and hope the viewers can empathise. In this case, it was a group of dysfunctional friends in their thirties and forties, juggling love, life and infidelities with a healthy blend of irreverence and drama.

It's a straightforward format, which is probably why BBC's last high-profile drama, Bonekickers, failed so miserably. That had a similar conceit: a group of dysfunctional archaeologists juggling love, life and ancient mystic artefacts. Yep, that's where they lost us. Poor old Adrian Lester, who starred in Bonekickers, must have been slightly envious to see his former Hustle co-star, Marc Warren, getting some meaty lines and heartfelt drama here. Elsewhere, the rest of the cast was flawless: Keeley Hawes as Warren's self-righteous and estranged wife, Alexander Armstrong using a dash of his sometime persona as the Pimm's man to play a surprisingly convincing ladykiller (seriously, the man oozed charm) with Sarah Alexander as his ex-fiancée. Hopefully, the sardonic humour will continue as the series progresses.