Julia Davis, on new show Sally4Ever

Julia Davis, writer and star of an acclaimed new sitcom about a lesbian affair, talks about why she's not interested in playing happy families.

Sally4Ever is one of the most joyous watches of the week. As might be expected from Julia Davis, it begins with a rough template for comedy and simply ratchets it up to beyond any tolerance. Hurrah. When sad-sack Sally (Catherine Shepherd, a lovely comedy actor playing it straight) has to witness her besotted boyfriend (Alex Macqueen) not only removing the scurf from his feet but then massaging and blow-drying his toes, it's awkward. After his abject tearful clinging proposal (she accepts, in the face of all available human evidence), he whips his dead mother's wedding dress out of his overorganised wardrobe, apologising for the yellowed stain - "she had an overactive gland", it's awkward. When he celebrates the cloying reluctance of her acceptance with strewn petals and an actionable notelet that would have him arrested in parts of my locale - "My Soulmate. My Partner. My Mother. My Lover. My Nurse, and my Clown"... it's time for Sally to embark on a filthily lesbian affair with Davis. Cue mayhem. It's not a watch for the faint-hearted or faint-brained, but, again, hurrah.

Sally4Ever episode 1 review

Even the most dedicated Davis fan might not be quite ready for this new Sky Atlantic series.

Sally4Ever episodes 1 & 2 review

On the basis of just the first two episodes, this might be Davis' most boundary-pushing show yet, so who knows what horrors and delights she has in store for us in the rest of the seven-part series.

Julia Davis's latest series stars Catherine Shepherd (Peep Show) as a suburbanite who ditches her wet-blanket fiance (Alex Macqueen) for Davis's free-spirit artist. One graphic and comically overlong sex scene aside, nothing in this opener reaches Nighty Night's pitch-black peaks, but you suspect it is just getting started.

TV review: Sally4Ever, Sky Atlantic

All I know is I'll be sticking around for the ride. So Julia Davis must be doing something right.

Julia Davis: the anger that went into making Sally4Ever

"This goes to a lot of places and is probably more ambitious than anything I have done before"

Sally4Ever review

A singular mix of humiliation, emotional agony and bodily fluids skewers the viewer in exquisite agony.

Sally4Ever, review

Julia Davis fans will be intrigued but this bleak comedy feels frustratingly familiar.

Julia Davis and Mark Gatiss interview

The stars of Sky Atlantic's new series discuss pushing comedic boundaries and the joys of playing horrible people.