Sensitive Skin

Rather than being an out and out comedy, I feel that 'Sensitive Skin' is a whimsical and often understated comedic drama. Semantics, I know, but it must be pointed out that the comedy is mostly implied, rather than being delivered with punch-lines and laugh tracks, and the viewer is always allowed to choose both if they find this funny, as well as when. I feel this show is not for everyone. You have to pay attention, as some lines just slip by unannounced.

Firstly, the couple, played by Joanna Lumley and Denis Lawson, are both well past 50, and their son (played by the talented James Lance) is still an 'adolescent' of 30-something. Viewed from the outside the couple appear to have everything, but the whimsy is in recognising the ways in which they are unsatisfied, and the comedy develops as they go about kidding themselves that they are sorted.

As in any superior storytelling, the scripts make this show, but the cast deliver every line with the professionalism we've come to expect from them. The close-ups of Lumley's face as she shuffles through her thoughts or her memories, or searches for an appropriate answer to a query from someone is well worth the trouble it takes to tune in to this unique show.