DATES (Channel 4) – Review


Dates  Channel 4 - Review - TOMORROW NEWS - The Latest Entertainment News Today!

DATES is a brand new drama, part of Channel 4’s ‘Mating Season‘, written by the talented Bryan Elsley – creator of Skins.
 

The show features vividly the difficulties of online dating through the eyes of Will Mellor (David), Oona Chaplin (Mia), Neil Maskell (Nick) and many more. The episodes consist of two-hander scenarios, and they include characters of different ages, backgrounds and sexualities. With all its critical acclaims, DATES has established that it is indeed a great British drama, and here’s my view on it.
 

DATES - Channel 4 - Review! TOMORROW'S NEWS - The Latest Entertainment News Today!

 

The show captures the true essence of blind dating: a roller coaster of emotions, and too often these can be awkward and disappointing. It doesn’t convey an overly dramatised, idolised, or unnatural Hollywood version of relationships. The characters are portrayed as human beings; they are ordinary, flawed and messed up. Not wholly evil, not wholly good, and this results in some accurate reflections of people like you and me. This was nice to watch for a change.

But don’t let the drama genre put you off the series; as it’s not all sadness, DATES isn’t too melodramatic, which contrasts sharply with Skins. Despite its realism, the series still evokes a nice sense of optimism through happy endings and humorous scenes. The dialogues include the typical British banter; along with some subtle dark humour, these compliment really well the disastrous parts of the dating world, and it makes for an attractive change in the series’ atmosphere.

The plot as a whole is also very witty and beautifully structured; every little detail has an important meaning which helps build interesting, and often unpredictable outcomes. Elsley shows off some really good story telling skills in this. It doesn’t feature any fancy editing or special effects, mainly because it doesn’t need to. Its writing is strong enough to stand on its own, and that’s the series’ biggest charm.

 

So if that sounds like your cup of tea, then get on to 4od catch up: http://www.channel4.com/programmes/dates/4od

 


 

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