The contract says no crossover: he has it from 8am to 8pm and I have it 8pm to 8am.” In the first episode of The Flatshare on Paramount Plus, Tiffany (Jessica Brown Findlay) explains the intricacies of her unorthodox new living arrangement to her friend Maia (Shaniqua Okwok) over brunch (avocado toast, fancy lattes – the sort of meal that certain corners of the commentariat love to scapegoat). This kind of exchange is typical of a series – adapted from Beth O’Leary’s 2019 novel – that zeroes in on the day-to-day travails of renting in London.
The arrangement, though, is more of a bedshare than a flatshare: Tiffany’s nocturnal flatmate Leon (Anthony Welsh) will catch up on sleep in the one-bed apartment while she is out at work during the day. At weekends, though, Tiffany will have the place to herself, “so it’s actually a pretty good deal”. Maia’s face says otherwise – but anyone who has experienced the rental market in recent years has probably engaged in some similarly strenuous mental gymnastics to justify a questionable housing set-up.
