Break Clause: two lovers flatshare during a breakup – and it makes for totally refreshing TV
They sign a rental contract, and then their relationship immediately collapses. This funny comedy-drama from Mexican-American comic Lara Ricote tackles real life in a way most sitcoms daren’t
I’ve been at more than one party where a stranger has told me they are still living with their ex, even sharing a bed. I don’t judge. I’ve experienced this myself. I remember a sad, uncanny time at the end of a relationship. Untangling our lives but not our bodies, supporting the other through their worst pain while trying to ignore the fact that the worst pain is you. But sometimes these strangers tell me they have been living this way for months, perhaps years, and my empathy flips to horror. “What the hell is going on in your house?” I think.
I found answers in Break Clause (Thursday, 10pm), a new Channel 4 dramedy. It’s the story of sweethearts Ben (Samuel Bottomley) and Lil (Lara Ricote), Leeds University graduates who decide to transplant their lives to London. On the eve of moving, there’s an incident that leads to a terrible confession in the hallway of their new flat. Ben and Lil break up – in the presence of their estate agent, who tells them the paperwork is irrevocable. They will have to live together for six months until the contract break clause. That’s awkward! But can tenancy rights correct a relationship wrong?
