Diane Morgan is a legend- so why is her new BBC comedy so frustrating

I was thrilled when I heard that Diane Morgan was creating a new comedy series for the BBC.

I’m a big fan of the comedian and of the channel’s plethora of sitcoms that we’re lucky to have at our fingertips – so for me, this was a winning combination.

Mandy is an iconic character and the bitesize episodes have brought me so many laughs.

And Philomena Cunk is one of Britain’s best comedic characters who asks the most wonderfully absurd questions to extremely serious academics.

Ann Droid felt like a new endeavour for Morgan, who co-wrote the script with Sarah Kendall, but it wasn’t what I expected.

Certainly, there are still elements of absurdity and the highly stylised characterisation that defines Morgan’s work.

Her quick, dry wit also shines through in the series about a grieving widow called Sue, played by The Royle Family’s Sue Johnston, whose adult son, played by Motherland’s Paul Ready, buys her an Elder Care robot to help with her needs.

It’s a poignant comment on our ageing society and the increasing need for effective social care that comes with that. The answer? An AI robot called Linda.

Morgan stars as the droid who takes responsibility for Sue’s physical and mental health in the wake of her husband’s death and her son Michael’s decision to leave home and go back to his cheating ex-wife.

Her resemblance to a robot is utterly uncanny, and hugely impressive. The attention to detail in her every movement places her miles ahead of the other actors playing AI helpers in the show, and reminds viewers why the Bolton-born comedian is such a talent.

In fact, she is so good at it, that I found myself getting increasingly frustrated with her character.

While watching, I was feeling triggered by her robotic inability to grasp certain situations, reminding me of the countless times I have begged my Amazon Alexa for ‘volume down’, only for her to fail her to understand my perfectly clear instruction.

Shamefully, I’ll say that these interactions can lead to my own poor Alexa being called some nasty names – an admission I’m not proud of…

So when Linda inappropriately blasted out ‘upbeat music’ at the wrong time, or spoke with that unnervingly consistent pitch and tone, at times I found my blood irrationally boiling.

Perhaps that’s more of a reflection on myself, and indicates I might need to engage with a bit more of a mindful approach when it comes to technology… but I don’t want to be reminded of that while watching a comedy.

This wasn’t the only thing which left me annoyed with the show.

Personally, I think Ready is one of the stand-out performers in Motherland, and while his character in that show is awkward and slightly hopeless, his comedic potential is fully realised.

In Ann Droid, his character also possesses a similar energy, but there aren’t enough funny moments to save him from just being annoying.

Andrea Valls as his unfaithful wife, Renee, was a wonderful surprise in the series.

The actor-come-TikTok star, who does hilarious sketches of the changing seasons and embodies different types of milk (you had to be there) should become a permanent fixture in British comedies.

Her ability to encapsulate a certain kind of person, in this case a BJJ (Brazilian jiu-jitsu)-obsessed-borderline-health-conspiracist who thinks ‘proximity to old forests can cure things like arthritis and cancer’.

Johnston is also predictably fantastic, but is let down by the series itself which lacked pacing and dragged at times.

Whether it was Linda’s purposefully monotone voice, or the predictable storyline, the whole thing felt slightly one note and didn’t reach a big enough climax.

When I understood that this was more than just a silly take on robots, I was expected to be moved to tears or sternly warned of the dangers of technology replacing humans.

Instead, it felt stuck between a comedy and a drama the whole time, and I felt unsettled as a viewer deciding which it was.

Ann Droid is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.

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