Notts True Story, More Saucy Secrets & A Very Relatable Comedy!

Hello world!

Welcome back to another blog. In this blog I will be taking you through another one of my tv reviews. These include a drama based on a true story, series 2 of the erotic channel 4 drama, and a show which as an autistic woman I can definitely relate to. So without further ado, here are the shows I’ve been watching recently.

What It Feels Like For A Girl:

The first show I’m going to talk about is What It Feels Like For A Girl, inspired by Paris Lees memoir and starring Ellis Howard.

This tells the story of the childhood years of the author from Hucknall, who was then called Byron, and their journey to get to the author they are today. I didn’t know much about Paris Lees before, but because they were based in Nottingham I couldn’t miss an opportunity to see the story come to light. For this review, I'll refer to the name Byron as that is what the name of the character is in the show.

Ellis Howard really captured the story of a young Byron. I could sense that they were a sassy teen who wanted to stand out, but it often landed them in difficult situations. I also loved the narration from Byron as the story went on, which correct me if I’m wrong, it could be sections from their memoir. I also understood why Byron got themselves in the situations that they did, as they wanted to feel some sort of power and to escape from reality (which I’ll mention in the next paragraph). And Byron wouldn’t be where they are is today if along with school friend Samanfa (Emma Shipp), it wasn’t for The Divas, with two key members in particular having a real impact. One of them was Die Hard (Laquarn Lewis), who had her own challenges when wanting to become a dancer, which affected her friendship with Byron. The other was Sash (Hannah Jones), who not only clashed with Byron after fighting over bad boy Liam, but also her connection to bouncer Bev and her nephew Bradley (who I will mention in the next paragraph). But in the end she managed to make peace and supported Byron through good and bad. One bad moment in particular was the death of his Mommar Joe (Hannah Walters) who out of the family they had, and despite being concerned and disappointed for their well-being, was the only one who supported their identity as being transsexual. But her loss only fuelled Byron to make a change, and it’s moments like this where sometimes you need to hit rock bottom to get help. Another key figure who helped Byron shape their future was former love interest Max Lockley (Calam Lynch who also played Theo Sharpe in Bridgerton), who at first provided a safe space for Byron, but at the end of the series realised their worth after max viewed their identity in a way that doesn’t feel right. 

There have been other figures in Byron’s life that affected their journey into the person they are today. These included her parents Lisa and Steve (Laura Haddock and Michael Socha), who splitting up really took a toll on Byron for different reasons. With Steve thinking about his reputation and his toxic thoughts on masculinity, and Lisa projecting her bad upbringing onto Byron (which is sometimes often the reason as to why some parents don’t have the best relationships with their children and a classic example of having limiting beliefs). But towards the end of the show, pros could see that she was trying to make amends by helping them get into university and also giving them a sentimental item from Mommar Joe. There was also bad boy Liam (Jake Dunne), who was hired by boss Rinze (Sekou Diaby who also plays cheeky crappy Toby in Boarders), to get Byron involved with dodgy dealings, mainly to help Byron gain power and escape from reality, and ended them up in a lot of trouble, prisoner Carl (Rhys Connah), who slowly formed a friendship with them and revealed why he is the way he is, and holiday maker Maggie (Angel Coulby), who showed Byron kindness after revealing their crime involvement, despite her husband doing the dirty. There was also aunt and nephew Bev and Bradley (Laura Checkley and Oliver Huntington), who know The Divas pretty well, but when Sash and Bradley got together, things did get heated. It was also nice to see the appearance of Isaac Beechey (who played John Shelby in Peaky Blinders: The Rise back in 2022), and Selina Mosinski aka Charity Shop Sue, who played a bully (as even though he seems like a nice person, 90% of the time a lot of characters are based on looks) and Byron’s boss at his day job. 

I think my only downside to the show was that there were moments that I didn’t quite get. Yes I know they’re meant to represent a hallucination or a flashback, but they were a little bit slow for me personally.

Overall, I would give the show a 4.90. I appreciate the fact of someone bringing their story to life, but there were some moments that I didn’t get/were slow for me. 

The Couple Next door:

The next show I’m going to talk about is series 2 of The Couple Next Door, casted by Rae Hendrie, and starring Annabel Scholey, Sam Palladio, Aggy K. Adams and Hugh Dennis

This second series sees a new cast and their marriage being turned upside down when new girl Mia arrives on the scene. 

This series we saw doctors Charlotte “Lottie” and Jacob Roberts (Annabel Scholey and Sam Palladio), see that despite their love they each want different things. Charlotte is seeking some adventure (and not just in the bedroom), along with her choice in marrying the right person (which I’ll explain in more detail in a moment) and Jacob seems to be wanting to think about his career, also hiding a dark secret which is revealed at the end of the series. All of that changed when new girl Mia Eldergard (Aggy K Adams), came onto the scene, clearly not wanting to be seen in the public eye. All of that linking to her past whilst getting involved in Charlotte and Jacob’s relationship definitely got steamy. But the biggest shock was the real culprit of the hospital investigation when she was framed, and for once I believed it was her. There was also Charlottes old boyfriend Leo (Sandhill Ramamurthy), who Jacob clearly disliked and it was evident that Charlotte still cared deeply for him, but he had his own issues when whilst his dad was receiving end of life care, his feud with brother Hari (Shane Zaza) was a tense one, but he eventually managed to see through him. We also saw Alan (Hugh Dennis), came to pay for his past wrongdoings from series 1, and managed to redeem himself by not only saving Mia from her therapist Isak (Pål Sverre Hagen who took advantage of her), but he also had a second shot of life with finding love in Charlotte and Jacob's colleague Yvonne (Tanya Moodie), who knew what he did and despite a blip, she could see he deeply regret it. And she was also there for Mia when she felt uncomfortable from her colleagues.

Other characters impacted Charlotte and Jacob's journey. These included friend and coworker Ben (Adam James), who broke up with their other friend Gemma (Maimie McCoy) for a younger model in Alyssa (Kristy Philipps) which did cause friction, particularly at a staff ball when Gemma had one too many to drink. But she managed to make peace with Charlotte and also got friendly with Leo towards the end of the series, and together they managed to help solve the investigation. Other characters included Charlotte's dad Henry (Jeff Rawle), who had dementia but he may have foreshadowed jacobs fate as he mentioned he didn’t like him, but he may have been right in saying so (which I never thought about before and was also very clever), and neighbour Gloria (Jasmine Duvitski best known for playing Jacquline from Benidorm) who’s your typical nosy neighbour but is there for an unlikely source of support. There were also colleagues Annette aka matron (Jackie Clune), who like any boss, you don’t want to get on her bad side, and fellow surgeons Brandon and Jayden (Barney White and Anthony Rickman), who seem to love the gossip, but Yvonne put them in their place when she saw how much it’s affected Charlotte, Jacob and Mia. 

I think my only downside was that it was only until the last episode where I got hooked due to the Jacob's link to the hospital investigation. I don’t know if it’s just my taste personally, but for me the first two episodes I was settling in, but it was really until the end of episode 5 and the whole of episode 6 where I managed to settle in. 

Overall I would give the show a 4.95. It was erotic, tense, and they also sided references from series 1, which I liked. 

Dinosaur:

The final show I’m going to talk about is Dinosaur, casted by Rosalie Clayton, created and starring Ashley Storrie, and also starring Kat Rooney and Danny Ashok.

This tells the story of Nina who’s life changes completely when sister Evie shares some life changing news.

As an autistic woman, I loved Ashley’s character of Nina. I know I’m bias, but there’s a lot of things I can feel when Nina gets into certain situations. These include fitting in, and organising Evie’s hen do, to actually getting pretty emotional when she and Evie (Kat Ronney), get into an argument and I hear things which I do get (and it’s not very often I cry at anything). But none the less, she dusts herself down, and shows that her true authentic self can be a good thing. We can also see her close bond with sister Evie, who is adamant that getting married is a good thing, and when we see Ranesh (Danny Ashok), I can see why Nina might be abit uncomfortable. But overtime we got to see her grow on Ranesh and was even able to help him and everyone see that masking to his dad Sachin (Sanjeev Kohli) is not the best idea, and his connection with Evie got stronger by the last episode. We also saw Nina set off on her one romantic journey, even though she doesn’t do relationships (me. Literally me), where she met the geeky but lovely Lee (Lorn Macdonald who was also in Bridgerton as Philippa’s husband Albion Finch). I loved how he was with Nina, and despite a blip in episode 5, the real reason as to why it happened made them stronger. 

There are other characters who impact Nina’s journey throughout the series. One of them include Nina and Evie’s brother Bo (David Carlyle), who finds himself in trouble of his own, but also shows his caring side for Nina, particularly at episode 5. Others include her colleague Declan (Jim Kitson), who I’m not sure if he’s autistic too, but he seems to give Nina some great advice, and Shane (Ben Green), who let’s just say he has queries on how Nina functions, but because it was written in a way that was not offensive was cleverly done. There’s also Nina’s parents Diane and Ade (Sally Howitt and Greg Hemphill), who Nina knows they have her best interests, but sometimes there’s a point where it can be abit too much (which I do relate to) and Evie’s friend Amber (Sabrina Sandhu), who I think secretly tries to get Nina to mask, but like Shane, the way it’s written is very clever and not offensive for me personally. 

I think I only had 1 downside and one moment that had me reflecting after watching the show. The first one being that some parts didn’t make me laugh out loud (although there were moments which made me chuckle as I can relate to them) and also the end of episode 5 made me emotional. This was due to the argument between Evie and Nina and despite it being a moment of madness, I can really feel for Nina as I can feel like a burden at times too. And also when she approached Lee to ask about him not communicating her also got me teary as I often sometimes wonder why a person I like doesn’t take ages to reply and assume the worst. 

Overall I would give the show a 4.95. It was cleverly written, Ashley’s character of Nina mirrored so much of myself, and despite not laughing out loud at all of it, there’s definitely some situations where I’m like “yep that’s definitely me”. 

And that’s it for my latest TV reviews. Let me know if you’ve seen one of these three and share know your thoughts on them.

See you soon for another blog. Until next time…

This is The Autistic Actress signing off :)