Interview: Sharon Rooney

Two minutes in to chatting with Sharon Rooney about My Mad Fat Diary and my shorthand is turning Scottish cartwheels, trying to decipher her rich Glaswegian accent. It's a credit to her convincing portrayal of the decidedly English teen diarist Rae in E4's new comedy drama that her voice comes as a surprise.

Despite me not being in the key demographic I really enjoyed My Mad Fat Diary due to its focus on being an awkward teenager something most of us experience in our adolescence. Rae's uncertainty what to do during her first meeting with the gang and her later embarrassment in trying on a swimsuit rung very true while I really cared about whether or not she'd find her place outside of the institution.

The dialogue is realistic and is not afraid to be crude in order to demonstrate how a sixteen year old girl's mind works - for example, in one scene Rae says that Archie would 'make a priest kick through a stain glass window'.

Sharon Rooney was absolutely sensational as Rae nailing both the comic dialogue and the darker scenes where she returned to how she felt when she was first bought into the institution. Ultimately though it is the setting of 1996 that makes My Mad Fat Diary really come alive, as it is a time where I too became a teenager, and seeing Archie perform an acoustic version of Return of the Mack really bought back memories as did the references to Now 33. The only negative element of the show was that it made me feel very old that a programme could now consider my childhood to be worthy of a nostalgic drama. The script, performances and style of My Mad Fat Diary make it a really sweet and funny watch and one that I'll definitely be keeping with over the coming weeks.

My Mad Fat Diary: nice to revisit time before Facebook

We're under pressure to share every thought and feeling as it happens these days, as if you don't really exist unless it's published on social media, that it's lovely to return to the pre-Facebook paper diary, writes Katy Brand.

My Mad Fat Diary, E4

The adapted teenage memoir is funny and touching, with tonnes of heart.

My Mad Fat Diary tackles trauma with funny honesty

My Mad Fat Diary had a dark cloud of self-harm lurking on the horizon, but was held together by lead character Rae's winningly wayward personality.

Last night's viewing - My Mad Fat Diary, E4

The problem, with the first episode at least, lay not in its concept but the uninspired execution of it.

Rising star Sharon Rooney says she wishes there'd be more dramas like this one on TV where she was growing up, because it would have made her and other teens feel that they weren't alone in being unable to join normal society. She plays Rae Earl, whose published diaries documented the angst she felt in the 1980s. The new TV version moves the action to 1996 and plays heavily on Rae's tendency to end up in horribly embarrassing situations. Rooney will make you want Rae to prevail.

My Mad Fat Diary - Review

If you're not interested in mental health at all, My Mad Fat Diary is still worth a watch because at its most basic level it's a funny show about an awkward teenage girl trying to get on with life.

In this painfully edgy teen angst comedy drama, Rae Earl (Sharon Rooney) is an overweight 16-year-old stranded in Lincolnshire in the mid-1990s. Just released from a residential stint in a psychiatric ward, back home she's still emotionally crippled by fears about what people think of her. Lucky for her that she stumbles across a bunch of understanding mates - but donning a swimming costume at a pool party puts her fledgling confidence to the test.

Anyone who's ever been an angst-ridden adolescent (ie everyone) will be torn between wanting to chortle and hug the heroine of this new teen drama. It's based on the published diaries of the real Rae Earl but has transplanted her trials and tribulations from the 80s to 1996 - hence the stonking Brit-pop soundtrack.

We meet 16-year-old Rae on the day she's discharged from psychiatric hospital and returns home to an unsympathetic mum, who'd rather canoodle with her illegal immigrant boyfriend than spend time with her stroppy daughter. All the latter wants in life is to be as popular as her effortlessly cool mate Chloe and to snog a boy.

At times Rae (Glaswegian comic Sharon Rooney) rivals the Inbetweeners boys for lewdness, crudeness and wince-inducing hilarity. Keep a cushion handy for the swimming pool scene.