Three siblings, living on an estate, have been abandoned by their mother; at least that’s what we’re led to believe at the start of this genre-bending six-parter from Janice Okoh who has adapted her stage play Three Birds. And yet we also know from the outset that even within this sorrowful premise there is something stranger going on. Big sister Tiana has just brought home a live chicken for an ‘experiment’, middle brother Tionne is in a catatonic state, while youngest sister Tanika is practising her grooves and affirmations before school. So far it’s offbeat comedy with the hint of an edge. But the push-pull between sitcom larks, surrealism and menace is about to get a whole lot faster and fiercer.

It’s no surprise that Okoh’s background is in theatre as there is a stage-like feel to the dialogue that asks you to suspend your disbelief sometimes through moments of blunt character development or exposition. But what is lost in naturalism is gained in Okoh’s feel for cranking up the drama, whipping away the rugs, and offering tender and bizarre surprises just when you think you have a grasp of the show’s plot and tone. 

Each of the children is grappling for their own way to cope with the tragedy that has befallen them, from Tionne believing a chicken is possessed with the spirit of his mother, to Tanika’s blossoming para-siblingship with local drug dealer Dr Feelgood, to Tiana stepping up into maternal responsibility. And yet the tone shifts in a split-second from social commentary to tomfoolery, such as when Dr Feelgood’s mother turfs him out for not being a successful enough dealer. All of this is underpinned by director Nathaniel Martello-White’s unsettling camera angles and composer Benjamin Kwasi Burrell’s enigmatic score. The ensemble cast are strong but it’s Okoh’s writing, surefooted in its boldness and ambition, that is the true star.

All episodes of Just Act Normal are available on BBC iPlayer.