We all know how romantic comedies are meant to go. Two conventionally attractive people meet up in some adorable way that also lets us (but not them) know there might be trouble further down the line. It can be fun and charming; it’s always predictable. And Significant Other doesn’t have time for any of it.
There’s nothing cute about the way Sam (Youssef Kerkour) and Anna (Katherine Parkinson) meet. He’s in his sad, sparse Manchester flat, shovelling painkillers down his throat and waiting for them to finish him off when there’s an urgent pounding on his front door. It’s his neighbour Anna, and she thinks she’s having a heart attack: the paramedics are on their way, but they told her not to wait alone. When they finally do arrive, they’ve got two patients for the price of one.
It turns out that sharing an ambulance is a good way to form a bond – or just stay alive long enough to get to know the other person a little better – and the pair (sort of) hit it off. So when Sam needs someone to be his “significant other” to get out of hospital, he asks Anna if she’s up for it. Sam does have a family, but his marriage recently fell apart (hence the suicide attempt), and he doesn’t want them to know what he’s done. He’s still clearly pining after his ex, which would set off relationship alarm bells if Anna didn’t have her own collection of alarms blaring almost as loudly.
Right now she’s fresh out of her own failed relationship with an unavailable man (that heart attack might have just been it breaking). One of the themes of this series is how relationships can whittle away at your friendships and support networks until you come out the other side and realise you don’t have anyone. In a more traditional rom-com this would mean Sam and Anna are made for each other. But here, being lonely and isolated just makes finding love even more difficult.
Do Sam (Youssef Kerkour) and Anna (Katherine Parkinson) have more in common than a ride to hospital? Credit: Matt Squire / ITV / Quay Street Productions
Significant Other is based on an Israeli series, and its refusal to buy into the usual western rom-com cliches makes it a real showcase for the two leads. Kerkour plays Sam as a giant teddy bear you just want to hug the pain out of (and there’s clearly a lot of pain in there). Sam can be abrasive and thoughtless at times, but Kerkour’s performance always makes it clear that even at his worst, that’s not who he really is. He’s just got a lot on his plate.
Anna, on the other hand, is someone who could do with a bit more going on. Her disappointments in life have given her a tough shell, and she’s not entirely sure she can be bothered coming out of it. Of the two leads, she’s the one with the more traditional comedy appeal, and Parkinson – who’s best known for The IT Crowd but has been in loads of other comedies, including the Australian-made Spreadsheet – makes the most of it.
Sam’s issues boil down to a struggle between his possible attraction to Anna and his refusal (or inability) to let his ruined marriage go. Anna’s main problem is that all her relationships seem to be rubbish: will Sam turn out to just be another timewaster? To be fair to him, he couldn’t be worse than the other men we see her date. When one of her options is played by UK cringe comedy legend Mark Heap (Friday Night Dinner, Green Wing), you know she’s in for a very bumpy ride.
This date is not going well: Ray (Mark Heap) and Anna (Katherine Parkinson). Credit: David Hindley / ITV / Quay Street Productions
It's not unusual for a rom-com to be built around questioning whether the two leads are really right for each other. What sets Significant Other apart is the way it fully commits to exploring the idea that love might not be what’s bringing them together. They’re both sad, lonely people who have stumbled into a connection that they otherwise never would have made. Nobody’s ruling out loneliness and desperation as major motivating factors pushing them together just yet.
If romantic comedies have taught us anything over the years, it’s that it doesn’t really matter how two people meet; it’s what develops between them that counts. Sam and Anna might be two lonely people bumping up against each other, but each bump helps smooth away the rough edges they’ve built up to protect themselves.
And as they win each other over, they win us over too.
The full season of Significant Other has just arrived . Double episodes will also air 9.30pm Wednesday nights on SBS 25 October to 8 November.
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Significant Other
