Based on a ‘self-absorbed’ pair, BBC Three’s Siblings shows us the life of two relatives living together. Charlotte Ritchie, who is best known for her role in Fresh Meat, plays character Hannah, who is openly feisty and comes across quite selfish. In contrast to her character is her clumsy brother Dan, played by Tom Stourton, who is always getting himself stuck in tough situations.
Things don’t go smoothly
In the episode ‘Gregg and Lily’, the pair are off to their father’s birthday party, but as usual with the two-some, things don’t run smoothly. We quickly see the story unravel when their dad breaks the news that he is engaged, introducing them to his fiancée Beverley, a successful human rights lawyer and her 8-year-old daughter, Lily. As the episode continues, we see the siblings fight for the role of ‘favourite child’ as they try to prove themselves to their father, Hannah by babysitting Lily, and Dan by ‘babysitting’ his dad’s business partner. Predictably, both of them end up screwing their roles up and it results in their dad being disappointed once again.
I really think Siblings on BBC three is the best comedy about atm. @Charitchie is brilliant in everything she does too.
— Andy Martin (@arcatm1) January 26, 2016
At times, the episode comes across as ‘over-acted’ and there are several moments when the audience is made to feel awkward, as the scenes don’t appear to run smoothly. However, this could be down to the fact that the characters are meant to be viewed as gawky.
Quick one-liners
In parts, the sibling’s father Gregg, played by John Gordon Sinclair, steals the show. His character uses crude language to portray the image of an extremely angry Scottish businessman, and it is safe to say that this works well. His use of quick one-liners leaves the audience grinning as he comes across as someone who says exactly what they are thinking.
@bbcthree stigmatising chronic illness, scarring and stereotyping sexuality #siblings is a disgrace to bbc #nomoreplease #discrimination
— ALavelle (@alavelle_london) January 26, 2016
Sadly, although the episode is generically funny, the show uses a relatively simple storyline of two failing millennials, which could be said to be over-used in modern British sit-coms. The show aims to appeal to a younger audience so it has used the struggles of being in your early twenties to entertain its viewers. Along with the likes of Fresh Meat, it uses the stereotype of young males and females being unsuccessful and terribly lazy, yet doesn’t appear to bring anything we haven’t seen before to our screens.
