© Channel 4, PBS & Fremantle
'Alice and Jack' boasts Andrea Riseborough and Domhnall Gleeson as lovers struggling to properly connect.
If its lead actors' pedigree isn't enough to woo you, the Channel 4 and PBS miniseries also has Aisling Bea, Sunil Patel and Aimee Lou Wood on board.
But while the casting is all well and good, is Victor Levin's writing strong enough to avoid unfavourable comparisons with David Nicholl's Netflix epic?
© Channel 4, PBS & Fremantle
Riseborough plays Alice, a loner who works in the world finance with a sharp mind and an equally sharp tongue.
Gleeson's Jack is a reserved, Uber nerd who works in biomedical science laboratory hoping to find a cure for various diseases.
The couple meet in a London bar via a Tinder style dating app and immediately hit it off.
So successful is this first date that Jack ends up accompanying Alice back to her apartment for what she insists is a one night stand.
© Channel 4, PBS & Fremantle
Of course, it doesn't turn out that way and the two remain in contact, inevitably drawn to each other like moths dancing around a light even when they are involved in relationships with others.
Levin's six part drama charts the ups and downs of the couple's relationship over a decade as they flit in and out of each others' lives as lovers and as friends.
On a hiatus from Alice, Jack ends up getting Aisling Bea's quick witted Lynn pregnant and marrying her.
However the marriage crashes and burns pretty quickly when Lynn realises Alice is an itch her husband desperately and constantly needs to scratch.
© Channel 4, PBS & Fremantle
After helping Jack get back on his feet, Alice springs a surprise by announcing an engagement to Tommy McDonnell's successful football agent Danny despite insisting she could never marry.
Asking her crestfallen on-off lover to give her away on the big day, he at first balks at the suggestion but soon swallows his pride, even if you can tell it's killing him.
During the six episode run, we learn Alice had a dysfunctional family upbringing.
While nursing his feelings for Alice, Jack also strives to be a devoted dad to his daughter Celia despite Lynn's constant badmouthing of him to her as she gets older.
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'Alice and Jack' captures those moments of bliss and moments of heartache in a relationship that should have been much more
It's a downbeat tale aboutpeople who just can't get out of each other's heads but struggle to be together.
Levin and directors Juho Kuosmanen and Hong Khaou seem to be aiming for a 'Normal People' or 'One Day' for fortysomethings.
However that's where it all falls down despite the best efforts of a decent cast because the writing just can't match the dynamism of those two miniseries.
© Channel 4, PBS & Fremantle
For 'Alice and Jack' to work like 'Normal People' or 'One Day,' you need to believe in the central relationship.
However it's hard to understand throughout why Alice and Jack are magnetically drawn together.
She is a flinty financier with a tendency to disappear from time to time who then tries to buy back Jack's affection.
Jack is a glutton for punishment who half heartedly enters a marriage with Lynn, knowing she is always going to be second best but pretending otherwise.
© Channel 4, PBS & Fremantle
When that marriage fails, he seems locked in this pattern of behaviour, sabotaging other relationships because of his fixation with Alice.
Unlike the sparks between Connell and Marianne in 'Normal People' and Dexter and Emma in 'One Day,' though the chemistry between Alice and Jack feels flat - although Riseborough and Gleeson do their best.
Alice is too volatile, too flighty for viewers to understand what Jack really sees in her.
Jack comes across a bit of a lovelorn doormat who wanders around taking all the blows that rain down on him.
© Channel 4, PBS & Fremantle
As a result, 'Alice and Jack's is a frustrating watch.
Riseborough and Gleeson are superb actors.
However the sparks you want to see fly never materialise because the script grinds through its gears slowly.
Bea, Patel, Wood and McDonnell provide decent support but the show trundles along, waiting to be put out of its misery.
© Channel 4, PBS & Fremantle
By the time Levin's miniseries reaches its glum denouement, you're kind of relieved it's all over.
Despite being handsomely shot by Max Smeds, 'Alice and Jack' simply doesn't do enough to justify its six episode run.
You feel the show could have been easily pared back to four episodes - although even that may be a stretch.
Like 'Normal People' and 'One Day' it wants to ram home that message that only love can break your heart.
© Channel 4, PBS & Fremantle
But so too can watching great actors struggling with a script that fails to articulate the rationale for that love in the first place.
'Alice and Jack' is like 'One Day' for depressives.
That should tell you everything you need to know.
('Alice and Jack's was broadcast on Channel 4 in the UK on February 14-29, 2024)
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