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After Andrew ‘hole for daddy’ Scott broke the internet with his outrageous cameo in the new Channel 4 series It Gets Worse, I have good news. It gets better…
On paper, Leo Reich’s new comedy about 20-somethings trying to navigate their messy lives in modern-day London reads like a fever dream.
Narrated by bestselling author Zadie Smith; guest-starring the likes of Scott and Lena Dunham; and featuring a co-worker character who brings up your boyfriend’s secret fleshlight in casual conversation.
But scrape below the surface and… yeah, it’s still a fever dream.
Much like other shows of its ilk: Girls, Adults, Sex Lives of College Girls, It Gets Worse hones in on a friend group who find themselves caught in the most ridiculous of sexcapades, toxic workplaces and a never-ending supply of kooky characters passing in and out of their lives.
This time we’re swapping the Big Apple out for the best (and most expensive, shhhh) city in the world, London, where we meet Ethan, whose life is in tatters in the way everyone who is in their mid-20s in 2026 is.
There’s a hole in the wall he’s renting out that he has no clue how to fix, his love life is DOA, and he doesn’t have much to fill his days aside from figuring out how on earth to pay rent at wherever he ends up living next.
Oh, and lusting after a guy he’s not sure is even queer, let alone interested.
The show kicks off when he and his two best friends and housemates, Abi (Emily Fairn) and Sam (Olive Gray), move out of their flat with plans to all live somewhere new.
But this is thrown into disarray when Abi admits she is going to live with her boyfriend, whom she doesn’t actually seem to really like – leaving the others out in the cold.
From here, it takes a classic sitcom turn, with each episode honing in on one of the three leads and the trials and tribulations they are facing.
Whether it’s Abi trying to convince her boyfriend to have sex with her and fend off her overly close co-worker, Sam trying to make peace with living in a housing commune with her ex-girlfriend, or Ethan, who just seems to have no clue what is ever going on.
Key Details: It Gets Worse
Creator
Leo Reich
Cast
Leo Reich, Emily Fairn, Olive Gray, John Tothill, Lena Dunham, Andrew Scott
Runtime
Six episodes, each half an hour.
Release date
It Gets Worse premieres on Thursday, October 22, at 10:05pm, and the full box set is available to stream on Channel 4.
It’s the kind of show where nearly every sentence ends in a punchline which lands about 90% of the time – with a grating 10% where you wish they could just speak normally for a moment.
The show doesn’t hold back in its provocative nature, and while the viral Andrew Scott scene is the most star-studded, there are several eye-popping moments in the show.
Just when you think it has taken a joke too far, it takes it a little further.
All three leads feel like fully fleshed-out characters in their own right and, despite annoying you at times, you can’t help but root for them to figure things out.
Also, as a 20-something attempting to keep the threads of my life together in the capital, it did sometimes hit too close to home. There’s the existential gloom of the job market, and an even bleaker rental market. And the question on everyone’s lips: Is there any point in going on?
But it also captures the sheer joy of going through it all with friends who are just as much of a mess as you. This bite-sized show is a delight from start to finish – even if you do want to cover your eyes at the horrors at times.
It Gets Worse premieres on Thursday, October 22, at 10:05pm, and the full box set is available to stream on Channel 4.
Verdict
It Gets Worse is a brilliant and much-needed addition to the genre of comedies about the highs and lows of being in your mid-20s, especially in London.
Although not every joke lands, Leo Reich is bold and brilliant in his off-the-walls storytelling, and I’m excited to see these characters grow, if not quite flourish.