Smart, funny, and fiercely female: over the past decade or so the UK has led the way when it comes to comedies that put women in the driver’s seat. Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Fleabag is the most obvious example, but you don’t have to look far to uncover scores of others. The old rules about where comedy comes from and what you can get a laugh out of have been blown away by this explosion of fresh talent; new jokes are always the best jokes, and audiences looking to laugh have been the big winners.
Spent is UK stand-up comedian Michelle de Swarte’s first series as writer and creator as well as star, and it’s a debut that marks her as one to watch (not that you can take your eyes off her outfits). Based loosely on her own experiences on and off the catwalk, it begins with Mia (de Swarte) reaching her use-by date as a model. Which would be fine – at 38 it shouldn’t be that big a surprise – only Mia isn’t exactly the type to save for a rainy day. Or any other day.
Mia (Michelle De Swarte) in Spent season 1, episode 1. Credit: Robert Viglasky
When her accountant points out she’s spent more than $14,000 on crystals, her excuse is that it sounds worse than it is because he’s adding up the costs for a whole year. He says the only way out is bankruptcy; she promptly hightails it back from the US to the UK, where she plans to pick up the long-discarded threads of her former life and make a new start with old friends and family back in Brixton.
No prizes for guessing how excited they are to see her back.
Mia’s mother Chrissy (Juliet Cowan) has taken in local teen Ella (Eleanor Nawal) who was having a rough go of it in her own home. That means Mia’s old room is taken, which rules out her plan to stay there. Instead she’s forced to couch surf – and when that doesn’t always pan out, she’s left looking for rougher alternatives, including sleeping in someone else’s car while they’re enjoying carnal pleasures (pun intended) on the bonnet.
Her semi-estranged father Teddy (Karl Collins) isn’t providing much support either. He’s struggling to cover the rent for his own shabby flat, not to mention dealing with the kind of mental issues that having him moving between being a colourful local identity and someone who needs a bit of real help.
As for her ex and best friend, Jo (Amanda Wilkin), she’s long since moved on, with a fiancé who’s less than impressed to see Mia back on the scene. She’s serious, sensible, has a steady job (on a cancer ward no less) and is constantly appalled at Mia’s life choices. Of course, opposites attract, and the hint of chemistry that remains between them slowly builds in strength across the series – though whether you’ll want the thoroughly likeable Jo (Wilkin steals every scene she’s in) to fall back into Mia’s clutches is another thing entirely.
Chrissy (Juliet Cowan) and Mia (Michelle de Swarte). Credit: Robert Viglasky
Despite her financial troubles, Mia’s not going to give up her lifestyle without a fight. Unfortunately, the job scene in the UK for former models is a bit grim, and her sleazy agent (Matt King) isn’t exactly pulling in the quality gigs. First up, a pet-sitting job that requires her to photograph the dog’s excrement. Things do not get better; flashbacks to her modelling days suggest things weren’t all that flash back then either.
A big part of what makes this current wave of sitcoms focusing on women so exciting is that they bring with them fresh things to say. Just recently, Dinosaur (streaming ) is built around an Autistic woman in her 30s dealing with (amongst other things) her sister and best friend getting engaged; The Change (also ) is a comedy about a 50-year-old woman who, faced with menopause, decides to take a break from her husband and children and go for some me time living in the Forest of Dean.
Spent, too, has something to say. There’s little denying Mia’s brought most of her troubles on herself; this ex-model is in no way a role model. But de Swarte is insightful both when it comes to the seedy world of modelling and the ways that poverty can leave a person with a relentless need to make up for it by living beyond their means. Mia’s parade of flashy outfits and glam accessories are there to separate her from a past that coming back home is forcing her to confront.
Mind you, no matter what your upbringing, you probably shouldn’t spend $35 thousand dollars a year on brunch.
All six episodes of Spent will be available from Friday 13 September. The first four episodes will air on SBS VICELAND on 13 September from 10.20pm, with episodes five and six airing 20 September from 10.55pm.
MORE GREAT VIEWING
Sisterhood and strife the source of big laughs in ‘Dinosaur’
