Catastrophe: Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney return for a fourth series on Channel 4

Alastair McKay8 January 2019

Four series into Catastrophe, where are we? Pretty far in, as it happens.

The original disaster in this comedy of an accidental couple was a pregnancy, which turned a routine sex act between two people who would never meet again into a lifelong obligation.

At least, that seemed to be the catastrophe. Over time, the show’s sense of terror has broadened from the confusion of being forced into a relationship to include many things.

Parenting is there, of course, and what a p***** that continues to be, but there’s stuff, too, about the randomness of parents (ie the parents of the parents), and the fountain of ennui and mishap that lubricates the nursery slopes of early-to-middle middle age.

Catastrophe: Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney as Sharon and Rob
Channel 4

Which means that the catastrophe in question isn’t that surprise pregnancy at all, but life itself. Which seems fair. As calamities go, that one is reliably farcical.

To get specific, the characters Sharon (Sharon Horgan) and Rob (Rob Delaney) start the new series (the show’s last) with a fresh handicap. Rob, an American with an endless capacity for b*******, is disqualified from driving, on account of a drunken car crash. This means that he has to wear a comedy neck brace and do community service in a charity shop.

Sharon, who has a nose for s**** and a habit of dressing in ways that seem - to these untrained eyes - marginally inappropriate, is left pushing the pram and trying to police the behaviour of Rob. “This isn’t Fatal Attraction,” she tells him. “This is just, there’s 25 pubs between here and our house that I can’t trust you to walk past because you’re a secret alcoholic.”

It got pretty dark towards the end of series three. There is a suggestion that this final run of shows will be lighter in tone, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t acerbic when it needs to be. The thing that keeps it watchable is the chemistry between Sharon and Rob, a polar thing in which opposites attract but retain their sense of bemused repulsion. It’s heightened reality, but only slightly, and made more real by the swearing, and more endearing by the (reliably absurd) sex. (On Rob’s phone, Sharon’s number is still listed as “Sharon London Sex”).

Channel 4

The support cast is only glimpsed here, but hopefully they will have more to do in future episodes. Chris (Mark Bonnar) finds himself still wearing that leather jacket and worrying about a new relationship that is proceeding at “warp speed”, with family membership of the gym looming at an improperly early stage of intimacy. And Fran (Ashley Jensen) is languishing in her bachelorette pad, and letting herself go. “I haven’t put a bra on before 4pm all week,” she confides.

There’s a guest star, too. Julie Hesmondhalgh (Corrie’s Hayley Cropper) is Amanda, a limping stalker who claims to have been injured by fragments of flying glass in Rob’s car-crash.

Horgan and Delaney write Catastrophe together, and it distills their comic impulses quite beautifully. It wouldn’t do to downplay Delaney’s input, but the show can also be viewed in the light of Horgan’s other collaborations. It sits between Divorce, which ironed out the kinks and heightened the melodrama, and Motherland, which tried too hard to force comedy from the contrivances of its situation. Catastrophe is a loving report from the frontlines of routine tribulation.

Catastrophe starts tonight on Channel 4 at 10pm.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in