Catastrophe

Interview: meet the Catastrophe couple

I'm sitting with these two pleasant people, Rob Delaney and Sharon Horgan. I ask them, "Are you surprised that Catastrophe travels well? Surprised it got rave reviews in the U.S. and Canada?" "Yes," Delaney says. "I suppose I am surprised. We didn't make it with the U.S. or Canada in mind."

Radio Times review

Radio Times Top 40 TV Shows of 2015, #3:

Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney gave birth to two series of this deliciously rude and crude sitcom. They played an Irish primary school teacher and a US ad man, called Sharon and - yep, you guessed it - Rob, who decided to give coupledom a go when their fling ends in an unplanned pregnancy. A motley crew of hilariously hideous friends supported them, including Carrie Fisher as the mother-in-law from hell, a silkily obnoxious Ashley Jensen, and Line of Duty's Mark Bonnar, who deserves a spin-off for his deadpan ripostes. But what really marked Horgan and Delaney's baby out is its bravery: Catastrophe gleefully made comedy out of delicate issues, like Sharon's decision to take a screening test for Down's syndrome, without making light of them.

We've always loved Sharon Horgan. We were massive Pulling fans and you know you're in safe hands whenever Sharon is attached to something. Catastrophe was the antidote to romantic comedy that had the misfortune to come before it. Crude, unflinching and with genuine heart, the series proved an instant hit for Channel 4 who commissioned a second series and rushed it out in October. Catastrophe was a breath of fresh air, Sharon and Rob clearly had a ball together and it made for a hugely enjoyable watch.

Rob Delaney and Sharon Horgan interviews

Catastrophe is No/ 4 in our end-of-year roundup. Here, the stars talk about filming sex scenes with friends, winning arguments by scary fast walking, and why the show is not really about bad things happening.

Best of TV 2015: No 4 - Catastrophe

Rob Delaney and Sharon Horgan's '49% autobiographical' comedy about the trials and tribulations of parenthood inverts the classic romcom with sexual honesty, a barrage of swearing and a wonderfully dysfunctional support cast.

Catastrophe is an essentially sympathetic sitcom that clearly wants us to root for the characters rather than despise or pity them, as was the case with many of the comedies that followed The Office a decade or so ago. I'm not sure that this and Detectorists, however brilliant, are enough to signify a trend -- but, if so, this might explain why Peep Show, despite being pretty brilliant itself, is increasingly feeling like a programme from another era.

With Sharon having kicked Rob out after he came clean about what happened at work with the flirty French woman, the second series of Horgan and Delaney's sitcom sees the pair thrown into a simulacrum of their dysfunctional single lives of about three years ago. Rob Delaney might be a capable foil, but Sharon Horgan is the real draw here; in her namesake she has created one of the most self-possessed, aspirational and intentionally funny women on television since Elaine in Seinfeld.

Who works and who stays at home? Rob Delaney and Sharon Horgan's almanac of parenting stress reaches the stage where careers and childcare clash. She considers returning to teaching, despite the younger kid only being four months old, while he considers leaving his job, despite earning all their money. As is traditional in a sitcom-with-a-story, this penultimate episode delivers a crisis: both stars have the acting chops to make the anguish real without losing laughs.

Radio Times review

This final outing for the sublime second series careers from disaster to disaster as the fallout from Rob's dalliance with sexy French colleague Olivia reverberates. He is thrown out of the house, goes to live with Dave (who's on a post-break up bender of epic proportions) and then falls spectacularly off the wagon himself; Sharon, meanwhile, goes drinking with "party pal" Kate, and does something she may come to regret.

It's safe to say that for everyone in Catastrophe-land the grass beyond the marital bed and home is far from green. But once again everything is done with wit, panache and an acute awareness of the day-to-day trials that afflict all married couples. I'll miss this fantastic show, but of course I will be doing so safe in the knowledge that Channel 4 would surely be as bonkers as poor old Dave not to bring it back next year.