The Evening Herald – 13th February 2013

 

Pat Stacey

 

Comedy made for the Couch

 

Contrary to what some people may believe, TV3’s first foray into producing its own comedy wasn’t, in fact, Deception.  That accolade belongs to On The Couch, co-written by and starring Barbara Bergin, who also takes on directing duties, and Gary Cooke, of Apres Match fame.

 

Buried late in the schedules, On The Couch could very easily slip unnoticed down the, well, back of the couch. This would be a shame, because it turns out be a very satisfying maiden voyage into uncharted, and in terms of Irish television’s track record, notoriously treacherous waters for the commercial channel.

 

As the title implies, On The Couch – just two actors facing a single camera – is about people in therapy. In this case, it’s three very different but equally screwed-up couples, brilliantly essayed by the talented and versatile stars, who have entered relationship crisis counselling to sort out their problems.

 

The pompous, idiotic Dudley and his sour-faced wife Sylvia are spilling their hearts out to the unseen counsellor in the hope that they can “move on from this impasse”, as Dudley grandly puts it. The impasses in question is his brief affair with an 18 year old member of his staff who has “now returned to her native country of Birmingham”.

 

Well, Dudley wants to move on, anyway. The acid-tongued Sylvia, on the other hand, seems content to keep raking over old coals and wallowing in a festering pool of martyrdom.

 

Carmel and Brendan are more recognisable types: a middle-aged couple who long ago let the spark between them die out.

 

Carmel’s interminable account of her epic battle to lose weight, throughout which Brendan sits, arms clamped defensively around his naff anorak as though trapped in an invisible straightjacket, huffing and puffing uncomfortably, eventually leads to the less than startling admission that they haven’t had sex in a long, long time.

 

“I don’t know what the point of change is,” whines a baffled Brendan. “Why can’t people just go on being the way they are? There’s nothing wrong, if you’re upset, with having a Twix and a cup of tea.”

 

Most hideously entertaining of all, though, are Graeme, who’s flowing blond locks, and uber-trendy wife Moya, a couple of ageing swingers who believe an open marriage and going easy on the parental pedal – so easy that their son is taken into care after allegedly “battering another kid half to death”.

 

Graeme insists they’ve been victims of an appalling miscarriage of justice: “What do you expect? They were drunk, they’re 14 – that’s what boys do”.

 

On The Couch isn’t exactly earth-shatteringly original, but it’s funny and well-observed, and allows Bergin & Cooke a platform to demonstrate their range.