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Rooted in the complexities of family life in London’s Caribbean diaspora, Mr Loverman is full of humane wisdom and hard-won optimism
5/5
More people by far have tuned into ITV1’s Joan and DI Ray than to BBC One’s Mr Loverman. On one level, that’s no surprise even in the on-demand era: there is comfort in genre and, for all their incidental pleasures, ITV’s series cleaved tightly to the anticipated beats of the true-crime biopic and police thriller. Mr Loverman, on the other hand, has broken new ground in forgoing more familiar depictions of contemporary black British life.
Rooted not in racism, gang culture or the Windrush legacy (although all were touched upon) but in the complexities of family life in London’s Caribbean diaspora, it was superficially niche, perhaps, but its open-hearted world-building, humane wisdom and hard-won optimism should have been relatable to anybody who has ever not been entirely honest, with or about themselves or others. Which is everybody, isn’t it?
The final two episodes could – perhaps should – have been ugly, and in places really were. Having accidentally outed himself as gay to his grandson, Barry (Lennie James) had lost both Daniel (Tahj Miles) and his dignity after being found in the bath by younger daughter Maxine (Tamara Lawrance), stinking and remorseful following a night of rum and recrimination. The long and painful process of confession and rebirth began, but if Maxine rewarded Barry’s years of indulgence with her compassion and generosity, there were tougher audiences to come.
Back in Antigua, Barry’s wife Carmel (Sharon D Clarke) released decades of tension through a punishing massage and found her voice with a lovely performance of Etta Jones’s Don’t Go to Strangers – neither sequence any less affecting for being so literal. On her return, she minced no words when confronting her husband for his “defect”, raging about spending
“50 years with a man who used me as a cover story” – verbal violence which fostered only sympathy and sadness.
Meaningful change is seldom easy or painless, but we left Barry and his family in a better place. No one played the victim and love was winning; Neneh Cherry’s Buffalo Stance proved the perfect soundtrack, an explosive, joyous paean to independence and self-love. Morris (Ariyon Bakare) and Barry finally had their man; Carmel, her new love and old life in Antigua; Daniel, his Harvard scholarship; Maxine and older sister Donna (Sharlene Whyte) were looking beyond their resentments and self-absorption to reconnect with each other and, perhaps, start to trust men again after so many disappointments. And Lennie James? If there’s any justice, he will have his Best Actor Bafta. Perhaps then people will catch up with one of the year’s absolute highlights. Better late than never, on all accounts.