Glowing finale for student comedy with a heart of gold

Lots of freshers’ fun but Big Boys’ is so much more than merely a cheap laugh, says Nick Hilton. Plus the crime drama Unforgotten’ stays gripping and grisly

- Ed Power

There is an old joke, dating back to the mists of the 19th century, about a man who visits his doctor, gripped by the terrible dread of existence. The doctor prescribes a simple remedy: the circus is in town and its lead clown is the toast of Europe. Go see him and your despair will be healed. The twist, of course, is that the man is that clown. Sometimes the laughter is a mask; sometimes the comedy gives way to tragedy. That, too, is the fundamental truth that allows the sitcom format to occasionally elevate itself to true art, as in the final season of Jack Rooke’s superb Big Boys on Channel 4.

University life is coming to an end for Jack (Dylan Llewellyn). He and his fellow “blue shed” residents – charismatic ladies’ man Danny (Jon Pointing), his powerful girlfriend Corinne (Izuka Hoyle), and flamboyant fashionista Yemi (Olisa Odele) – will soon say goodbye to Brent Uni and enter the big, scary real world. But before that they’ll, once again, have to navigate academic and career decisions, as well as the usual dollop of family and identity crises. Can Danny and Corinne’s nascent romance survive the turbulence of student life? Will Yemi’s bold professional ambitions be fulfilled? And when will Jack find his calling, and end up being the Jack who, a decade later, is writing this show?

On the face of it, Big Boys looks like a fairly conventional sitcom, in the vein of Fresh Meat or Community. An odd couple – one gay, one straight; one anxious, one confident – discover their similarities and learn how their differences complement each other. And it is that kind of show. “I don’t think you ever realised,” the older Jack narrates to Danny, “you were the only older male figure I ever loved.” It is a sweeping, cinematic love story – a platonic romance for the ages. And yet while it was doing this on the surface, playing with conventions established in the broad comic traditions of