The great city of Liverpool has been well served by the sitcom industry over the years. The Liver Birds, Boys from the Blackstuff, Bread, The Royle Family. These are all highly successful and highly watchable, if occasionally mordant. They all fell into a bit of a pattern – a recipe of sorts, like Scouse itself (originally a stew of course) – with similar essential ingredients: wit, irreverence, strong women carrying weak men, a family theme, and a certain sassy style.
ITV’s latest stab at sitcom success, The Family Pile, falls uneasily into this line of succession. In this case, the mixture is: four sisters recently bereaved; three husbands-slash partners; three kids; one affair between a sister and another sister’s hubby; and one very large house. With the recent death of the siblings’ mum, following closely on from that of their dad, eldest sister Nicole (Amanda Abbington) sneakily puts their childhood home on the market, a move that the rest of the clan disapproves of. Nicole’s attempts to impress buyers aren’t helped by her sister Yvette (Clare Calbraith) deciding to leave their other sister Ursula’s (Claire Keelan) husband Austin (Richard Pepple) tied up to their deceased parents’ marital bed after a sex game. Still with me?
