Rae Earl

As if being 16 years old, 16-and-a-half stone and a resident of smalltown Lincolnshire wasn't bad enough, Rae (Sharon Rooney) has just spent four months in a psychiatric ward. So it's understandable that she might fancy a new start, under the watchful eyes of her clued-up doctor (Ian Hart) and erratic mother (Claire Rushbrook). But can she hide her past from her new friends and overcome her issues to make the most of teenage life in the Britpop era? Based on writer Rae Earl's real-life diaries, E4's latest series is shaping up to be a triumph to file alongside Skins and Misfits, while being entirely different to both and a tougher sell (neither as on-trend as the former nor as high concept as the latter) than either.

Key to its success is Rooney's empathetic, guileless lead performance, while the comedy and tragedy inherent in the premise is deftly handled. An appealing, confident opener.

Nicely done adaptation of Rae Earl's real 1990s teenage diaries. Earl was an unstable, overweight teenager in Lincolnshire when she was sent to an institution for four months during a nervous breakdown, while her mum told everyone she was in France. Sharon Rooney is outstanding as the girl desperate to fit in, have sex and escape her unhelpful mother. It is funny, features all the 90s indie you could want, and the direction really is exquisite. The bit when a sausage thwangs slowly into someone's cheek is worth the budget alone.

If you've flicked onto any channel with 4 in the title in the past month or so, chances are you would have seen the advert for this brand new comedy based on the real diaries of author Rae Earl.

Set in Lancashire circa 1996, My Mad Fat Diary re-enacts 16-year-old and 16-stone Rae's quest to make up for lost time with a group of cool new friends after being released from a psychiatric hospital. Frank, occasionally bleak and just a little cringeworthy, this is a show that'll ring painfully true for everyone watching aged 20 or over.

My Mad Fat Diary is both realistic and frothy. Based on the teenage diaries of writer Rae Earl - who, unlike most of us, had something genuinely dramatic to agonise over, having been taken into a psychiatric hospital - it portrays its 1990s heroine (young Scots actress Sharon Rooney) in all her gawky, unglamorous, stroppy non-glory. But this is far from a grim expose of mental health, because Rae is far less interested in that than in boys - or BOYS!!! as her diary would have it.

It's an odd tonal mixture, lurching from touching moments to overegged stereotypes, with plenty that both young and older viewers will groan to recognise. It's all played a bit safe though: I wish they'd let out more of the madness.

Based on Rae Earl's real-life book about an overweight, funny, boy-mad teenager - with mental health issues - growing up in Lincolnshire in the mid-Nineties, this comedy drama has a lot going for it. Rae is nicely played by Sharon Rooney. Claire Rushbrook plays her unreliable mum and Ian Hart her therapist. The opener sees Rae discharged from a psychiatric hospital and hooking up with childhood friend Chloe (Jodie Comer).

My Mad Fat Teenage Diary preview

A new TV comedy series turns teenage mental health disorders of British writer Rae Earl into Skins for the Xanax generation.