Some welcome fresh faced acting talents, notably Nico Mirallegro ( Hollyoaks, Spike Island) as Finn, are paired with more familiar faces like Ian Hart (Professor Quirrell from Harry Potter and the Philosopher Stone) as her sharp and witty psychiatrist and her eccentric mum played by Claire Rushbrook ( Linda Green, Mutual Friends). Tom Bidwell, the writer, manages to achieve equilibrium with snaps of discomfort and moments of light-hearted cringe the serious issues of self-harm and anxiety tackled with sensitivity and honesty. Typically ‘E4,’ the programme doesn’t wander too far from the adolescent hormone induced humour it’s known for but does fuse this with darker undertones. In her first major TV role, Sharon Rooney effortlessly captures Rae’s vulnerability after plunging back in to the outside world, while confronting us with her surprisingly rude language and frank openness about music, boys and her quest to…get laid.

Set in 1996, when the Gallagher brothers could still stand to share a stage, there’s a refreshing essence to the 90s soundtrack and the converse clad ‘cool’ gang Rae falls into. Ian Hart stars as Rae’s pleasantly maverick psychiatrist and the funny, cartoon-like graphics add up to make a production that’s funny, fierce and one of a kind – much like the star herself.How can you not be immediately enticed by a programme when the advert shows a guy getting slapped in the face in slow-mo, with a sausage?īased on the real-life diaries of Rachel ‘Rae’ Earl, this six-part teen drama revolves around 16-year- old, 16 ½ stone Rae gaining her first whiff of freedom after a four month stint in a psychiatric ward. The 1996 setting comes complete with a cracking Brit pop soundtrack and a weird nostalgia for the days when people still smoked indoors, Polaroid cameras were like an iPhone and KitKats cost 30p. She also finds that having a new bunch of cool mates brings with it a unique brand of hell known as the dreaded pool party.

Scots actress Sharon Rooney plays a blinder as Rae who emerges to discover that her mother (Claire Rushbrook) has got herself a Tunisian boyfriend. You don’t have to be a teenager to fall in love with this black comedy based on Rae Earl’s memoir.Īnyone who’s ever despaired of feeling “normal” or fitting in will find a kindred spirit in Rae – 16-years-old, 16-and-a-half stone, boy-mad and, as we meet her, about to leave psychiatric hospital after a four month stint for self-harming.

Mad fat teenage diary