Jo Hartley

Interview: Jo Hartley

The actor tells Janet Christie how she followed the yellow brick road from This is England to bigamy comedy drama Bliss.

Sky One's new comedy Bliss had very little redeeming features and outstayed its welcome within the first fifteen minutes of its forty-five-minute running time. Written and created by Arrested Development's David Cross, Bliss focuses on travel writer Andrew (Stephen Mangan) who uses his job to cover-up the fact he's leading a double life. On one end of Bristol, Andrew is married to pretty American Kim (Heather Graham) who he shares a teenage daughter Christina (Hannah Milward). Whilst, in a separate part of the sister, he lives with long-time partner Denise (Jo Hartley) and their son Kris (Spike White); who is a little tired of his dad turning up with plane models from his faux work trips. Despite Andrew deceiving four of the people he supposedly cares most for, the character I felt sorriest for in Bliss was his boss as he was re-purposing Trip Advisor reviews of the destinations he was supposedly visiting whilst he was with his respective households. There was a myriad of problems with Bliss, which is one of the worst comedies I've seen in quite a while, starting with the fact that the show's lead character is duping two women as well as deceiving his two children. Despite being played by the charming Stephen Mangan, Andrew is essentially a sociopath who is living so many lies that he's struggling to keep up with various deceptions. Cross depicts Andrew as someone whose close to breaking down as we see him crying as he leaves Kim's house for Denise's at the start of the episode. In fact, Bliss' other main crime is that it's not funny in the least and almost functions more as a drama about a man whose double life is starting to affect his sanity. The key storyline in this first episode sees Andrew try to prevent both women from being at the same Italian restaurant at the same time, however his methods are incredibly questionable. From slinging racial insults at he and Denise's dinner guests to slating the vegan friends of Kim, Andrew is a character who has very few redeeming features. Meanwhile, both Denise and Kim are presented as women who struggle to think for themselves and go along with what Andrew tells them to do. Kim is especially under-utilised in this first episode as Andrew spends most of his time with Denise whilst his wife struggles to cope with the Eastern European builders that are working on their new kitchen. Despite being a fan of David Cross, I have no interest in watching any more of Bliss; a comedy that isn't funny and one that I'm shocked was commissioned in the first place.

Bliss review

It's the perfect premise for farce, so it's a surprise that bigamy hasn't really been the subject of a TV comedy before.

It's already time to divorce from Bliss - review

If David Cross had removed all the jokes from his new Sky One series Bliss, it would have made a very fine, uneasy drama about bigamy and the lies we tell ourselves. Unfortunately, he didn't. And as a comedy, it fails pretty spectacularly.

Review: Prevenge on DVD & Blu-Ray

Alice Lowe's smash hit film Prevenge is released on DVD and Blu-Ray in the UK on 5th June, which gave TVO an ample excuse to revisit a film we'd previously called "a startling debut from an incredibly talented individual".

Prevenge review

Prevenge review: Alice Lowe writes, directs and stars in this comedy slasher about an unborn foetus with murder on its mind...

Prevenge: gritty murder in the wake of motherhood

Prevenge, the directorial debut of actress and writer Alice Lowe, is a horror-comedy about the brutal serial killings carried out by the film's lead, Ruth, a pregnant woman who follows the malevolent desires of her unborn child.

Preview: Prevenge

Featuring a cast primarily made up of TVO regulars, and with Alice Lowe writing and directing as well as leading that incredible cast, we were naturally very keen to see it. Our editor, Paul Holmes, shares his thoughts below...