The Misbehaviour screenwriter on Jane Goodall, the TV adaptation of Normal People and why fungi is the key to our very evolution
We’re in lockdown with my 20-year-old daughter and one of our 27-year-old twin sons. On good days, life in lockdown is idyllic. All of the sunshine and blossom makes it feel as if the planet is celebrating us humans retreating behind closed doors. On bad days, it can feel as if we’re slipping down some dystopian plughole. So I’m careful what I watch. There’s only so much angst I can take if I want to sleep at night.
I’ve been happily immersed in Normal People. It’s an elegiac reverie on first love, and I greatly prefer the BBC’s adaptation to the book. It brings to life a complex romantic dynamic that somehow eluded me on the page. I also highly recommend Unorthodox and its remarkable companion documentary, One of Us, both on
Netflix. Each offers a remarkable window on the Satmar Hasidic community of Jews living in Brooklyn. I was both touched by the poignancy of
Holocaust trauma that lead the sect to its extremism and horrified at the decimating psychological effects on anyone who attempts to leave the group.