Review: Big Mood is a big mood. Why you need to be watching Nicola Coughlan’s latest TV series

Big Mood

Streaming now on Stan

Get ready to see a whole lot of British actor Nicola Coughlan.

This month, not only is she popping up front and centre on the latest series of Bridgerton, she’s also starring in a new British comedy, playing a woman attempting to navigate life in her late 20s.

The series, from creator Camilla Whitehill, who worked with Couglan previously on a podcast, follows best friends Maggie (Coughlan) and Eddie (It’s A Sin’s Lydia West), a couple of millennials at something of a crossroads in their lives.

They live in East London, and they’re both reassessing where they stand as they approach their 30th birthdays. They’re not married, barely hold down jobs, and can’t for the life of them seem to figure out what comes next.

I have to say: this all felt eerily familiar. When I was 29, I quit my job and moved to London — chaos ensued, though not to the degree that unfolds in this.

At the show’s heart is the relationship between the two besties.

Eddie has long been Maggie’s ride-or-die, but when Maggie stops taking her medication and her bipolar disorder flares up and starts causing problems, she’s left questioning whether their years-long friendship really is in either of their best interests.

This sounds like it wades heavy territory, and it does at times, but it’s also really funny, and Coughlan and West are fabulous in the central roles, capturing all the messiness of this very particular life stage.

We might not be from the same generation — Couglan and West are millennials, while I went through my late-20s existential crisis 15–odd years ago — but I found much to relate to in this.

Worth a look.

Vanderpump Villa

Monday, streaming on Disney Plus

Below Deck, but make it France!

That may as well be the premise for this latest Vanderpump spin-off, which sees hospitality doyenne Lisa Vanderpump relocate to the South of France to establish a new luxury business at a historic French chateau.

Along for the ride are a bunch of impossibly good-looking, but also impossibly chaotic young staff who you just KNOW are going to make Lisa’s life a living hell.

Like Below Deck, there are plenty of after-hours shenanigans to enjoy, with “rivalries, romance and misadventures” aplenty.

Inject this into my veins!

Loot

Wednesday, streaming on Apple TV Plus

This comedy never quite reaches the heights you’d expect from a series executive-produced by Maya Rudolph and Natasha Lyonne, but it’s still fun to spend some time in Molly’s world as she gives away her millions.

Ripley

Thursday, streaming on Netflix

Can’t wait for you all to see the new TV reimagining of The Talented Mr Ripley. Shot entirely in black and white, it stars Fleabag Hot Priest Andrew Scott and honestly — need we say more? Dakota Fanning and Johnny Flynn also feature.

Is It Cake S3

Streaming now on Netflix

Is it cake? Are you cake? What is even real these days? A couple of hours spent bingeing this addictively watchable baking series with your kids and you too will be questioning your very existence. You have been warned.