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1 day ago
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Dying for Sex (Disney+)
Twitter: Breaking the Bird (BBC Two) | iPlayer
MobLand (Paramount+)
Austin (BBC One) | iPlayer
I can’t quite put my finger on the tone of new Disney+ US dramedy Dying for Sex. There’s sex and death, of course. The series is based on the real-life story of fortysomething Molly Kochan, who, on receiving an incurable breast cancer diagnosis, left her husband and embarked on a kinky sex quest until her death in 2019 (Kochan discussed her experiences with her friend Nikki Boyer, which were turned into a Wondery podcast). Finally it struck me: sweetness. While sex and death are amply represented, from giant vibrators to near-death hallucinations, it’s the sweetness that stays with you, burning through the melancholy and rocket-fuelling the humour.
Created by Elizabeth Meriwether (New Girl, The Dropout) and Kim Rosenstock, Dying for Sex stars Michelle Williams as the adventurous, quirky Molly and Jenny Slate as flaky, warm-hearted Nikki. They are both superb: funny, sad, ridiculous, overwhelmed and riotous. Sissy Spacek is brilliant too as Molly’s despairing but supportive mother. Molly’s husband, Steve (Jay Duplass), is swiftly dispatched after he weeps when receiving oral sex from her (“My boobs make you think about death?”). Molly, who has never had an orgasm with another person (a sexual predator ruined her childhood), appoints Nikki as her death buddy and gets busy on the apps (“This is so exciting – look at how many pictures of penises I’m getting!”).
What follows could be described as a blackly comedic, albeit unrealistic, fantasy romp, were it not based on a true story. Molly navigates sex parties, cock cages and men dressed as dogs, eventually reeling in a neighbour (Rob Delaney, also great) with her newly discovered dominatrix skills, which give her back a sense of control (“You like it when I talk about your little medium-sized dick!”).
The sexual escapades are delivered in a frothy, humorous Secret Diary of a Call Girl style, but this is a cancer memoir too. Over eight episodes, Molly’s decline is monitored in jolts (a tumour in her eye; a lung collapsing) until the final days. Even with short, half-hour(ish) episodes, Dying for Sex is still two instalments too long, and for some the juxtaposition of sexual high jinks and mortality may jar. Personally, I loved it: as well as sexual emancipation, it’s also about love, friendship and living life on your own terms until the last fierce, bittersweet moment.
Now that we’ve allowed them in, will we ever be free of messianic Tech Bros? In BBC Two’s 75-minute documentary Twitter: Breaking the Bird, it’s no surprise to see footage of Twitter co-founder and erstwhile CEO Jack Dorsey leading a huge, packed convention of cult-like devotees in 15 minutes of meditation. “Forced fun”, one commentator calls it, which sounds half right.
Dorsey isn’t interviewed in Breaking the Bird, but other big players are, including Twitter co-founders Biz Stone and Evan Williams. And people dish plenty of dirt: the coups, the incompetence, the site crashes; the naivete about what users might communicate once they got the chance. The programme becomes a kind of online Jekyll and Hyde parable about cyber-idealism (free speech, news, protest, digital utopia) morphing into a Silicon Valley monster of abuse, hate speech and misinformation.
It ends with the present glorious leader, Elon Musk, taking over (“The singular solution I trust,” said Dorsey), turning Twitter/X into the life-enhancing, civilised social media nirvana we all cherish and respect today… or something. If Breaking the Bird doesn’t show us how to escape this mess, it at least helps to illustrate how we got here.
Where to begin with MobLand, the new 10-part London gangland thriller from Paramount+? Originally conceived as a Ray Donovan spin-off, then turned into its own show, it’s created by the talented Ronan Bennett (Top Boy, The Day of the Jackal), while Jez Butterworth (Jerusalem) comes in as a writer. Guy Ritchie, whose 2024 TV show The Gentlemen was a hit, directs the first two episodes given out for preview. The cast includes Tom Hardy, Pierce Brosnan, Helen Mirren, Paddy Considine, Alex Jennings, Jasmine Jobson (Jaq from Top Boy), and more. What could possibly go wrong? Apparently, lots of things.
With Ritchie involved, you have to expect a certain amount of cartoon-crim larging it (“Fakk orff!” and the like), but this is relentless. Hardy is a fixer, cleaning up messes for Irish crime family the Harrigans, led by Brosnan and Mirren, the latter brandishing a bizarre Irish accent, like an evil Mrs Doyle from Father Ted. Someone gets stabbed. The son of a rival cockney gang leader disappears (“My boy!”). There are grisly discoveries in suitcases, and so on.
At least Brosnan tries to inject a sinister, unpredictable crackle into proceedings. Hardy doesn’t disgrace himself either, but he gives a laid-back performance – mooching around like he’s earning 50p running errands for his gran. If MobLand is going to improve, it had better do so fast – and they may have to include subtitles for Mirren.
The eight-part BBC One comedy Austin has already been successful in its native Australia. Ben Miller (also the co-creator) and Sally Phillips play Julian and Ingrid, married British co-authors touring Australia with their children’s book character, Big Bear. Julian is already in trouble after accidentally retweeting a white supremacist (“How was I supposed to know? He didn’t have any of the gear on”). Then a young autistic man called Austin shows up, saying he’s Julian’s son from a short fling years before, when he was just starting his relationship with Ingrid.
Austin is played, with charm and comic timing, by Michael Theo, who is autistic and became popular on Netflix’s neurodiverse dating show, Love on the Spectrum. Humour is drawn from Theo’s autism (“How long can you commit to the bonding process? Because I think two hours will be long enough”). But the barbs are saved for the self-serving Julian, who hopes reuniting with Austin can get him un-cancelled by the public. It’s a bit dated, presenting like a throwback classic sitcom, but there are subversive undercurrents. Halfway through, I’m enjoying it.
Star ratings (out of five)
Dying for Sex ★★★★
Twitter: Breaking the Bird ★★★★
MobLand ★★
Austin ★★★
What else I’m watching
Dreamers
(Channel 4)
Naturalistic, subtly compelling drama set at a Leeds dance school, revolving around the trials, tribulations and rivalries of teenage students as they compete for a showcase.
Tribe With Bruce Parry
(BBC Two)
In the explorer/erstwhile marine’s first TV series for years, Parry finds himself in the Colombian Amazon rainforest, gamely ingesting a psychoactive drug with those who live there.
Mhairi Black: Being Me Again
(BBC Two)
In 2015, Black, then 20, was the youngest British MP for a century. When she quit in 2024, she performed a standup routine about toxic Westminster culture. This soul-baring documentary takes in everything from death threats to ADHD.
