Turlough Convery

My Mad Fat Diary's second series came to an end last week. The latter half of the series had been fairly depressing as Rae (Sharon Rooney) launched into a disastrous relationship with the disgusting Liam (Turlough Convery). Meanwhile relations with her mum (Claire Rushbrook) had hit an all-time low and her therapist Kester (Ian Hart) also stopped her from visiting him at home. Meanwhile her friends started to abandon her as Chloe (Jodie Comer) went missing and ex-boyfriend Finn (Nico Mirallegro) went to Leeds to live with his uncle. However it was a letter from Finn claiming that Rae was the glue of their friendship group that made her adamant to turn things around.

After a disastrous end to her pregnancy, Rae's mum ended up critically ill in hospital while Rae herself was delighted when she became a sister. Meanwhile Kester gave her the confidence to stand-up to the evil older guys who were essentially keeping Chloe hostage. Obviously Tom Bidwell built things up to a happy ending where everybody was friends again and Rae and Finn reconciled with an extremely saucy final sequence. The only issue was that Bidwell had built up so many stories over the past few episodes that there were plenty of sub-plots to resolve. As a result some of the conclusions felt incredibly rushed especially Rae's final scene with Liam which I felt should have been given more time based on the fact that he's been quite a pivotal character this series.

Ultimately though the episode ended in exactly the way it should have done and I think Bidwell did the right thing by giving the fans of the show what they wanted. I'm unsure at this point whether the show needs a third series as there's not much I think that needs to be explored aside from Rae's new role as a sister. Although I'm a fan of the show, and am delighted that it's been nominated for a couple of BAFTAs, I don't want it to carry on just for the sake of it.

Finally I must praise the performance from Sharon Rooney, who was cruelly overlooked in the aforementioned nominations, who really holds the programme together. If this really is the end for My Mad Fat Diary, and my gut says it is, than I hope that Rooney goes on to bigger and better things a she certainly deserves to.

The Custard TV, 10th April 2014