Changing Ends

Alan Carr’s new autobiographical sitcom, Changing Ends, is that most joyous of things: a smart, inventive, honest and charming coming-of-age story. It’s also, in the case of Carr, the making of a national treasure.

Remains a pure delight.

There was real sadness at the end in the loving tribute to Simon Carlyle, Carr’s co-writer, who died last year. But in a bleak world, this sitcom is a small splash of silliness and joy.

It's a fantastic feat to have a comedy series that feels so nostalgic and familiar, while also being thoughtful, considered and funny - but Changing Ends holds up its light tone and delivers a considered representation of the attitudes of the '80s, when being gay and expressive in your sexuality wasn't "tolerated", as Carr says.

It is a steamroller of a comedy, open, welcoming and beaming with easy charm.

This is a series that pleasantly mines the comedy of small stakes: it doesn’t take much for a small town to be whipped into a frenzy nor does a pre-teen need any encouragement to be melodramatic. A few of the gags were obvious and a joke about the Kardashians – told by the older Carr – felt out of place, but there were plenty of solid laughs (like Val mixing up Helen Keller and Christine Keeler).

The lower-middle-class 80s-ness is impeccably rendered. .... The lines are peppy too. But they’re all very obviously written in the voice of the adult Carr, which means laughs comes at the expense of distinctive character credibility. And the bubbly mood sometimes sits uncomfortably atop the bigotry, like froth on a bitter cappuccino.

not usually much of a fan of child actors but Young Alan is absolutely brilliant. He gives an amazingly hilarious performance