British Telly

Big Boys is at its most gratifying when hymning this slightly dated picture of joyously ordinary British life: bingo, Tesco meal deals, Fleet services, The X Factor. Cousin Shannon – who has become the show’s primary comic engine thanks to a bravura performance from Harriet Webb – is an endless font of such references (in the first episode alone, she shoehorns in Balamory and Hollyoaks Later).

Occasionally, the show’s warm relatability strays into sitcom cliche; storylines such as Jack getting sunburnt in Greece or his mum, Peggy (Camille Coduri), donning uncomfortable knock-off shapewear that makes her behave strangely on a date feel very familiar. But some cliches exist for a reason. Jack entering his pretentious poet era may seem like a well-worn comic trope, but the plotline is genuinely (and, in light of the disastrous literature produced, regrettably) rooted in Rooke’s real life.