One of the best Covid dramas so far: BBC2’s Together reviewed

Let me start with a spot of admin: if you’re wondering what The Speccie makes of GB News, it’ll be reviewed next week once the channel’s had a fair chance to establish itself. In the meantime BBC2’s Together took an impeccably up-to-date subject and gave it surprisingly old-fashioned treatment — by returning us to the far-off days when TV drama had its roots in theatre rather than cinema. Not only was it a 90-minute two-hander, but the characters spoke to both each other and the audience on a single set.

Sharon Horgan and James McAvoy played an unnamed couple (always a bit annoying for a reviewer but I won’t let that affect my steely objectivity) who entered the first Covid lockdown convinced of the fact that they hated each other. ‘I actually think of him as a cancer,’ the woman told us. ‘One of the really bad ones.’ ‘The only thing keeping us together is little Artie,’ the man pointed out — although even their son’s name was a matter of bitter dispute, with her passionately preferring ‘Arthur’.