Bowing to the logic that anyone who zanily declares Im mad, me!
in real life deserves to be given a wide berth, its big, fat gypsy-wedding-alike title didnt appeal.
Neither did its teen-skewed content, or as much of it as Id glimpsed from E4s promos.
Cheesy love triangles and mooning over pop stars?
Move along, like.
AsMy Mad Fat Diaryapproached its final series though, I witnessed something puzzling.
People were preparing themselves for bereavement.
Fans gathered on Twitter to express their heartfelt connections to its characters.
Its writing and performances were praised in the warmest of terms.
Simply put, Id obviously been missing out.
Rooneys performance inMy Mad Fat Diaryis nothing short of a revelation.
And it only gets better from there onwards.
Throughout the three series of the show, the scripts consistently sizzle with witty dialogue.
Saying that, series three was handled well by George Kay.
As it goes, Earl wrote my personal favourite episodes Its A Wonderful Raeparts one and two.
To talk about their content would involve a few too many spoilers, though.
These are achieved, for the most part, by the on-going use of scribbles across the screen.
The stakes get pretty high at some points, too, the show isnt without a sense of danger.
Rae herself isnt immune to this treatment at all, making her all the more engaging as a protagonist.
Again, realism plays a part here.
Maintaining a friendship for years isnt easy, especially when honesty is a difficult policy to maintain.
Its refreshing to watch a funny show where the characters dont reset at the end of each episode.
Either that, or she takes the piss out of him.
Theres also Victor, Raes actual dad, played by Keith Allen, who first appears in series two.
Victor abandoned Rae and her mum at a young age, but eventually Rae tries to reconnect.
The third contender is Karim, Raes mums boyfriend played by Bamshad Abedi-Amin.
Claire Rushbrook plays Raes mum (real name Linda) as a terrifically fun and three-dimensional character.
In the show, Rae has mental health issues, and struggles with her body image.
Her biggest problem, as the show itself suggests, seems to be that she doesnt like herself.
When things go badly for her, she assumes they were meant to.
When things go right, shes sceptical to the point of ruining the good situation.
For a perceived teen show,My Mad Fat Diaryis incredibly mature, and handles these issues head-on.
There are endearing performances throughout, and a plenty of juicy character arcs to get your teeth into.
If you hadnt gathered from the rest of this article, I cant recommendMy Mad Fat Diaryhighly enough.
Oh, and the soundtracks awesome, too.
