I recently watched the first series of This Way Up which is a TV show that was labelled as a comedy. Created by the comedian Aisling Bea this show revolved around her character Aine who was recovering from a mental breakdown.

The major thing I noticed about this comedy is I didn’t find it funny, given the subject matter of mental illness and depression I don’t think they could have managed to do laugh out loud jokes. Instead, this came across as more of a drama and watching it with that in mind it was pretty good.

Aine relies on characters around her for support, making herself giggle a lot in their company but becoming sadder when left alone. The most important of these relationships is with her sister and the two of them clearly have a strong bond which is  well written to the point where it seems that maybe the actresses themselves had good chemistry.

The acting of just about every character is done surprisingly well and even though I struggled to relate to the characters (me being male and without any experience of major mental issues) I did find it engaging enough to watch the whole six episodes in two sittings, plus the way they ended the last one made me want to see a second series so I can recommend it.

So, although I was disappointed at the lack of comedy which it was labelled to be, It was a good drama which made me smile a few times. If it had been labelled as a drama I would have had no disappointment with the show.

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I did look on the IMDB reviews and some people seemed to have found it hilarious and relatable so it’s possible that I didn’t fully enjoy it as I’m not the target audience.