Home Time - BBC2

Emma Fryer Is The Teenager From Hell, Aged 30

© Arlene Kelly

Sep 18, 2009

Ah, who’d be a teenager again? Permanent angst, nobody understands you, all your parents want to do is nag you to death and control EVERY SINGLE MINUTE OF YOUR LIFE, and you’re stuck in nowhere land while all the good stuff is happening someplace else.

Well, it seems 29-year-old Gaynor (Emma Fryer) is determined to do some serious regressing. After leaving home at 17 in search of some brighter lights, she’s now back in Coventry and even worse, back home with mum and dad. “Nothing’s been touched,” says mum Brenda (Marian McLoughlin), referring to the 90s shrine that is Gaynor’s bedroom. “I let your da store some petrol in the dresser but everything else is as you left it”.

Where Are The Laughs?

Sadly that is pretty much what passes for comedy in Home Time. Rather than sitting down calmly with her parents to see if they can help her in what is obviously a troubling situation, Gaynor simply reverts to her ultra-anguished 17-year-old self. “You’re not in charge. I don’t need you to tell me whom and when and why I am. I am not a child.” And promptly accepts a lift into town from dad. If there is anything less amusing than a whining teenager, it’s an adult trying to play one.

From there it’s a series of none-too-happy reunions with the friends she left behind. First up is Mel (Hayley Jane Standing), who knows exactly what buttons to press to get the guilt flowing. Mel has a successful babysitting business even though, naturally, she’s completely useless at it. And she still lives with her parents, paying them the princely sum of £10 a week rent, so the cash is rolling in. Why leave “Cov” when you can get the height of sophistication, a kiwi bath bomb, right here?

Coventry’s Great Success Story

Next is Becky (Kerry Godliman), who has clearly modelled herself on The Apprentice’s Ruth Badger, right down to the haircut. Rude and antagonistic, Becky is “big” in public relations, and is in the midst of writing a book “all about women and corporate empowerment. Shows you how to have sex with people at work without them noticing.” Unfortunately trying to sneak some toilet paper from the pub to supplement her household budget does little to enhance her hotshot image.

And finally there’s Kelly (Rebekah Staton), easily the most likeable of the group, mostly because she’s truly glad Gaynor is back, and is so busy indulging in illicit substances she has little to say. Yes at 29 she’s still clubbing and hoping to succeed as a DJ. With friends like these is it any wonder Gaynor left?

Co-created by Fryer herself, Home Time is made by the production company which gave the BBC its last hit comedy, Gavin and Stacey. Alas the magic has not rubbed off. The one-dimensional characters and dismal dialogue ruin what might have been a promising concept – how to face the fact that at 30 you still haven’t found your way in life. And it doesn’t do much for Coventry either.

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