In this very hip and rather good comedy drama, Tom and Sammy are two young professionals negotiating the London property market with differing degrees of success. Sensible, protein-bar eating Tom (Jon Pointing) has somehow bagged a gentrified terrace from his job in comms. Sammy (Danielle Vitalis), a designer’s assistant, is in a chaotic flat share. They have both sworn off dating but meet at a karaoke club and contrive to have some public sex. A no-strings-attached fling ensues with a strict time limit: of course, by the end of it, they’re head over heels.

The romcom version of mild peril emerges when it’s revealed that Tom has a young child from a previous marriage and there are some further nicely timed twists to negotiate. But on the evidence of three episodes, our heroes will emerge all the stronger from their ensuing problems; like Sammy throwing a surprise party in Tom’s house packed with her Gen-Z, kink-adjacent friends on a night he had to take his daughter at the last minute. 

There’s some great passages of writing and a nice, casual, flirtatious energy between the two leads. Meanwhile, some edgier turns from the supporting cast (like the always-great Aisling Bea) provide respite from an overarching sense that every character in this show is impeccably right-on. For a series whose first scene is set in a sex party, there’s a weird absence of real grit or cathartic truth-telling here regarding the actual chaos of love and sex. Sometimes, something is almost gestured at regarding the grimness of London life for young people who aren’t rich, the heartache of failed relationships, the release to be found in drugs, sex and occasionally being a complete arsehole, or (gasp) a bad parent. But not that often. Maybe this reviewer is too jaded: everyone has their kinks. 

Smothered starts on Sky Comedy, Thursday 7 December.