STARTING OVER (THE DRY)

© Britbox, RTE1 & ITVx

It's been available on Britbox since May of last year. 

Now the streaming service's co-production with ITV and RTE 'The Dry' has gradually made its way onto those channels' terrestrial television and streaming platforms.

Conceived by playwright Nancy Harris, it's a caustic tale of a recovering alcoholic navigating a very messy family life in Dublin.

It's also wickedly funny.

© Britbox, RTE1 & ITVx

Roisin Gallagher plays Shiv Sheridan, a thirtysomething woman who returns to her family home from London supposedly for her granny's funeral but who actually stays for much, much longer.

Shiv is hardly welcomed, though, back to the family home with open arms.

Her heavy drinking in the past has burned a lot of bridges.

But living with her dysfunctional family is hardly conducive to an easy recovery.

© Britbox, RTE1 & ITVx

Shiv's parents, Pom Boyd's Bernie and Ciaran Hinds' Tom Sheridan have a rather unorthodox marriage.

Ant, her gay brother, played by Adam Richardson, lives in an outhouse in the back garden where he smuggles in lovers and smokes pot.

Caroline, her uptight sister played by Siobhan Cullen, is a doctor involved with Eoin Duffy's seemingly straightlaced, fitness obsessed schoolteacher Rory.

However she also has the hots for  Stephen Hogan's senior consultant Dan.

© Britbox, RTE1 & ITVx

Returning to Dublin means also having to handle the big love of her life, Moe Dunford's hat wearing, bohemian man about town, Jack while remaining sober.

To help her stay off the drink, Shiv finds a no nonsense sponsor at an inner city branch of Alcoholic Anonymous, Janet Moran's Karen who's always on her case.

But she's also acutely conscious of the class difference between them.

Over the course of the series, Shiv finds work in an art gallery.

© Britbox, RTE1 & ITVx

She also has to delicately handle Jack's romantic advances, discovers big secrets about her dad and granny, has to chronicle for Karen all the dreadful things she's done in her life and address the consequences of the death of another sibling.

Can she navigate all of this successfully without falling off the wagon?

Harris and director Paddy Breatnach deliver a sharp, pacy and often bawdy family comedy with a rich gallery of characters.

Anchored by Roisin Gallagher's wonderful performance as Shiv, it is nevertheless an ensemble piece that revels in the many flaws of its characters.

© Britbox, RTE1 & ITVx

And so we have Tom's amorous exploration of the world of alternative Chinese therapy.

There's Bernie's amateur sleuth fixation with the disappearance of a neighbour's wife.

Meanwhile Ant juggles a messy love life with a promising job in an estate agency run by a rugby jock until both worlds inevitably collide.

Caroline sneers at Shiv's messy love life while risking driving her own relationship over a cliff.

© Britbox, RTE1 & ITVx

Jack takes a devil may care approach to his relationship with Shiv, eventually revealing some uncomfortable truths.

Throughout it all, Harris and Breatnach superbly land comic set up after comic set up.

Gallagher also turns in what should be a star making performance in as Shiv.

It's a sparkling performance as a character who feels like she was strayed out of a Sharon Horgan sitcom.

© Britbox, RTE1 & ITVx

Hinds and Boyd are terrific as parents who are far from role models.

Richardson and Cullen are excellent as Shiv's hypocritical siblings.

Dunford is spot on as the vain, swaggering Jack, while Moran also impresses as Shiv's AA Jiminy Cricket.

Duffy, Hogan, Dagmar Doring as Shiv's boss Kristen, Emmanuel Ojoye as Ant's lover Max and Helene Patarot as the acupuncturist Mina also fare well.

© Britbox, RTE1 & ITVx

Breatnach is a great choice as director, stewarding the show with imagination and verve.

Like 'Kin,' Cathal Watters' cinematography plays to Dublin's strengths as a European capital.

But it is the solid foundation of Harris' mischievous script that makes all this possible, as she delicately balances the comedy and drama.

And while 'The Dry' delights in the snarkiness of characters who shouldn't be throwing stones, it also knows how to deliver moments of real poignancy.

© Britbox, RTE1 & ITVx

With writing as strong as this, it is heartening to know that a second series from Harris is already in the works.

Keep this standard up and Harris will undoubtedly have a comedy drama classic on her hands.

(Series one of 'The Dry' was made available for streaming on Britbox on May 5 2022, was broadcast on RTE 1 from March 1-22, 2023 and was made available for streaming on ITVx on March 24, 2023)