Review: The Other One

The Other One is a British comedy series streaming on Acorn TV. This is a comedy series for lovers of British humor. It is a solid example of the genre.

The Other One is 7 episodes of mayhem. While Tess (Rebecca Front) and her daughter Cathy (Ellie White) are having a surprise birthday party for Tess’s husband, he has a heart attack and dies.

In the midst of this shocking event, they discover that he had a long-time lover, Marilyn (Siobhan Finneran), and another daughter of almost the same age and with the same name, Cat (Lauren Socha).

Marilyn and Cat are oddballs. Bizarre, inappropriate, and hilarious while being utterly serious about it all.

The four women start getting to know one another, especially the two half sisters. These two couldn’t be more different. In fact, neither could their two mothers. The four principal women actors in this series are spot on with the gags and jokes.

Cathy is engaged to Marcus (Amit Shah). She’s uptight and frazzled about wedding preparations. Her hen party is a camp out with Cat, Marilyn, an aunt, and a friend who barely remembers her. The friend bonds with some other campers. The aunt throws up all night. Marilyn is afraid of the outdoors. Some party, right?

Somehow The Other One manages to get numerous plot twists, surprises, and ridiculous situations into 7 short comedy episodes. The last seconds of the last episode are a perfect setup for another season, but I haven’t heard that one has been approved yet.

Charlotte Ritchie and Christopher Jeffers make brief but very important appearances.

The series was created by Holly Walsh, who also directed some of the episodes.

Here’s a clip.

And the trailer from the BBC.