Lena Dunham

It's been more than a decade since the writer, actor and director captured the experience of every twenty-something in her hit show, Girls. Now, she's rewriting the rule book for women in their thirties in her new romcom series, Too Much.

- HARRIET SIM

INSIDE THE GUEST BATHROOM of a London home, Lena Dunham overheard something she shouldn't have. “She's just a little too much,” whispered a voice from beyond the tiled walls. There was no doubt in Dunham’s mind that the private exchange was about her. “I remember my whole being shrinking into nothing,” recalls the award-winning director, actor and writer. Hearing that someone thought she was “too much” immediately made her think she was difficult, over-the-top, exhausting and intolerable; another of those terms – like “emotional” – that only women seem to be branded with. In an industry still heavily dominated by men, this was not the first time that someone had made her feel small.

Enter, Dunham’s husband, the British musician Luis Felber, who explained that unlike in her native America, “too much” is a term of endearment in the UK. “[He told me] the term was a descriptor of love and joy and that something was ‘too much’ because it was delightful and it overflowed,” says Dunham. “It was such a recalibration for me to think about the term in a different way.”

Thrilled with this new definition, she was determined to spread the word that being “too much” is something to be proud of, rather than ashamed. And so, when searching for a title for the semi-autobiographical romcom she wrote with Felber, there was only one phrase that captured the sentiment of the show: too much. The series follows Jessica (played by Hacks’ Megan Stalter) as she moves from New York to London. Once there, she meets the commitment-phobic punk musician Felix (Will Sharpe). The result is a hilarious yet rare portrait of dating and finding love in your thirties. (Dunham and Felber are both 39, and married in 2021.)