He's a goofy American businessman, she's a self-deprecating Irish teacher. They meet in a bar, enjoy a six-night fling, then part ways, agreeing to remember one another as "an extraordinarily good-smelling woman with a magical ass" and "a sturdy love-maker with a massive chin".
Then catastrophe: she's pregnant.
They deal with the situation pragmatically: he'll up sticks from New York, move in with her, propose. She accepts. This is the set-up for new Britcom Catastrophe, (Thursdays, 9.30pm SoHo), a comedy made for the UK's Channel 4 that puts a refreshing spin on an age-old idea. Stars and co-writers Sharon Horgan (who wrote the British sitcom Pulling) and Rob Delaney, (a United States comic who found fame in Britain on Twitter) play versions of themselves, adopting a blunt style of humour that relies on rude repartee.
In the hilarious first episode they bonded over their mutual hatred of a stuck-up homeopath, talked sex (and the body parts involved) and got into the nitty-gritty of the birthing process. The homeopath's husband warned Rob to stay away: "You see that little troll come tobogganing out of your wife on a wave of turds - and part of you will hold her responsible."
Thankfully, it offsets its dirty mind with a sweet story - but not so sweet you need a bucket. This odd couple have found just the right balance between crude laughs and heartfelt drama, a tenderness growing within their awkward budding romance without the need for canned laughter, an overbearing soundtrack or PDA.
