I heard about this TV show on Instagram. I saw that it was the work of Mae Martin, a Canadian comedian whose sets I’ve watched and really enjoyed before. I had a free morning, I had a Channel 4 All 4 account and I had a desire to watch something new so I decided to give it a go. And I’m so glad I did.

‘Feel Good’ is a Channel 4 six-part series of roughly 25 minute episodes which is a loose biopic of Martin’s own life and experiences. The romcom-style series centres on the relationship between Mae, played by Martin herself, a comedian struggling with addiction and the problems that has caused in her life, and George, played by Charlotte Ritchie (fans of the BBC TV show ‘Ghosts’ will jump for joy at this casting), an English teacher who has never been in a relationship with a woman before and is grappling with her sexual identity and how she can reveal it to her ignorant friends and family. The series looks at how two people can love each other but come from very different backgrounds and how those backgrounds and values interact and clash to form a beautiful exploration of a messy, realistic and flawed relationship. Top-notch television in my opinion.

Firstly, this show is incredibly funny. The episodes are pretty short really, as is the whole series, but the writing is wonderfully timed, witty and laugh out loud. In fact, in an interview with Martin in The Guardian, Martin discusses how she got into comedy and how she was amazed that comedians could take the weirdest parts of themselves, the parts they were made fun of for, and use it to make other people laugh with them, not at them. I think Mae Martin’s willingness to be vulnerable and share her own experiences is what makes her so funny – people can relate to it so they feel like they can relax into her writing and her comedy. She’s a very talented individual.

It was also really wonderful to see an LGBT couple taking centre-stage in a rom-com, a genre traditionally dominated by stereotypical cisgender, heterosexual relationships. For George particularly, the series builds up the background to her sexual identity, with her mother, still embittered by her divorce, constantly feeding George ideas of romantic cynicism and George’s friends, privileged, white and rich, with ignorant ideas about love and romance. Due to her fear of what her friends and family will think of her first relationship with a woman, George is twisted into someone the audience does not recognise – there’s a horrible scene where George denies her relationship with Mae to her friends right in front of Mae. A collective wince was felt I must say, a different feeling to the romantic montage of Mae and George’s relationship that begins the first episode. During the series, George comes to realise how her ideas about love have been so influenced by her background and she is forced to re-evaluate how she relates to the world and her relationships, realising that her relationship with them is not based on a foundation of trust and honesty, something she confronts them about in the final episode. George shows the intersection between your background and your behaviour, an interesting, fully fleshed out character who you truly believe could be a real person. Also, in an interview, Martin remarked that she wanted to explore the character of the privileged, ignorant Binky (a hoot of a name), George’s “best friend”, further in a possible subsequent series, something that I think would really add to the exploration of privilege and upbringing in the show and how this informs your values and how you move through the world.

The show is also great for its open exploration of gender identity and sexuality. Due to George’s past heterosexual relationships and the stereotypically heterosexual narrative she tells Mae she dreamt of for herself, it exposes Mae’s own insecurities about her own gender identity, something she formulates an entire comedy set on, which throws a real spanner in the works with her relationship and causes her to spiral with her addiction but ironically brings her the most renown she has ever had in her career. In the first episode of the show, we speed through the first three months of Mae and George’s relationship before the opening credits have even been shown, in a honeymoon-period montage that ends with them moving in together. I think that just goes to show that the series is so concerned with getting to the nitty gritty if you will, moving below the feelings of attraction and lust that you might feel at first in a relationship to a deeper discussion of emotional connection. The way the show discusses these difficult topics that can often be mishandled in TV and film – gender, sexuality, addiction, emotional trauma – is open and unashamed and is neither dysphemistic or euphemistic. It’s just really honest, which I think is something a lot of people can appreciate.

There is so much that I could say about this show. I could tell you about the scene where George confronts a student she teaches about a homophobic remark the student made, I could tell you about how we see the strained relationship between Mae and her parents (her mum is played by Lisa Kudrow by the way, fab choice, 100% recommend), I could tell you about George’s clothes (I know this is not an intellectual nor emotionally resonant thing to discuss but I just really liked her outfits OK, I’m sorry, I had to slide it in, you gotta do what you gotta do). But I think you just really need to see it for yourself. In a time where social distancing is the order of the day, this show reminds us of human connection, deep emotional trauma and the realistic nature of human relationships. I can’t recommend it enough. Well done Mae Martin – you done good.

(P.S. I only have about £3 to my name but I’m going to somehow bribe Mae Martin/Channel 4/whatever God is up there to make another series. I feel like I still need more of these beautiful characters).