My Mad Fat Diary is a BAFTA-nominated British comedy-drama television series that debuted
on E4 on 14 January 2013.
It is based on My Fat, Mad Teenage Diary written by Rae Earl.
The second series started on 17 February 2014 and ended on 31 March 2014, with each episode
being posted on 4oD a week prior to the television release.
Plot Set in Stamford, Lincolnshire in 1996, My
Mad Fat Diary follows the story of 16-year-old, 16 stone girl, Rae Earl, who has just left
a psychiatric hospital, where she has spent four months.
She begins to reconnect with her best friend, Chloe, who is unaware of Rae's mental health
and body image problems, believing she was in France for the past four months.
Rae attempts to keep this information from her while also trying to impress Chloe's friends
Izzy, Archie, Chop and Finn.
Cast and characters Main cast
Sharon Rooney as Rachel 'Rae' Earl, an overweight 16-year-old who has spent four months in a
psychiatric hospital.
She struggles to hide her mental health and body image problems from her new friends and
finds it hard to fit in.
Claire Rushbrook as Linda Earl-Bouchtat, Rae's mum.
She marries Karim Bouchtat in the finale of series 1.
She becomes pregnant during the second series.
Ian Hart as Dr. Kester, Rae's therapist who helps her deal with her issues.
Nico Mirallegro as Finn Nelson, a boy whom Rae clashes with at first, but who later becomes
her main love interest.
Jodie Comer as Chloe Gemell, Rae's attractive, popular best friend from childhood.
Dan Cohen as Archie, Rae's close friend.
He is later revealed to be gay and is the victim of homophobia and bullying.
Jordan Murphy as Arnold "Chop" Peters, the party animal of their group of friends.
He begins a relationship with Izzy at the end of series one.
Ciara Baxendale as Izzy, the sweet but ditzy girl of the group.
Often cheerful and optimistic, Rae describes her as never having a negative thought.
She is in a relationship with Chop.
Darren Evans as Danny Two Hats, a resident of the psychiatric hospital.
Sophie Wright as Tix, a resident of the psychiatric hospital and Rae's other best friend.
In the series 2 opener, it is revealed that she passed away due to her over-exercising
and refusing to eat at the end of the previous series.
Turlough Convery as Liam Owen, Rae's new friend/love interest who attends group therapy with her.
Recurring cast Bamshad Abedi-Amin as Karim Bouchtat, the
undocumented immigrant boyfriend, and later husband, of Rae's mum.
Shazad Latif as Dr. Nick Kassar, a doctor at the psychiatric hospital.
Eliot Otis Brown Walters as Big G, a bully who often picks on Rae, calling her Jabba.
Keith Allen as Victor Earl, Rae's father.
Sacha Parkinson as Stacey Stringfellow, a popular girl who used to date Finn and bullies
other girls.
Susie Potter as Amy, a tough girl in Stacey's clique.
She falls out with Stacey after she said she looked 'proper rough'.
She later ends up dating Liam, and even threatens Rae whenever she sees him with Liam.
Jodie Hamblet as Vicky, a popular girl in Stacey's clique.
She has a skin condition, although she dislikes talking about it.
She later becomes an enemy of Rae and Chloe, regularly insulting them at school.
Kirsty Armstrong as Lois, a sweet girl in Stacey's clique.
She is revealed to be Archie's 'girlfriend'.
After Rae "outs" Archie to Lois, she threatens to tell her friends that Archie is gay if
he doesn't tell everyone first.
Episodes
Critical response Season 1 of My Mad Fat Diary received universal
acclaim.
The Guardian's Sam Wollaston called it a "lovely drama – honest and painful, real, and very
funny," going on to say "Sharon Rooney's performance in the lead is natural, effortless and utterly
believable; she should win something for it."
The Stage called it "a comedy drama that actually satisfies the criteria of both genres, My
Mad Fat Diary offers a unique and uncompromising perspective on adolescent angst that distresses
and delights by turns.
Visual gimmicks – flashbacks, fantasies and animated squiggles leaping from the page
– are used sparingly but effectively, allowing the focus to stay fixed on Rae and Rooney’s
commanding and engagingly natural central performance."
The Art Desk said "the first episode of this six-part comedy drama is touching, hilarious
and perfectly cast."
Claire Webb of the Radio Times said the plot is "as uplifting as it is moving, although
the banter and gimmicks won't be to everybody's taste."
American radio station WBEZ in Chicago, Illinois, called the series "The best television show
you aren't watching."
The show also received praise for its honest portrayal of mental health.
Brian Semple of The Independent calls the show "surprisingly honest, funny and even
moving account of what it’s like for a teenage girl to live with serious mental health problems,
free of many of the clichés that often inform how mental illness is portrayed on TV," going
on to say that Rae "has a mental illness, but it doesn’t define her.
It’s just something that she has to deal with and try to manage on a daily basis, just
like the one in ten young people in the UK who have a mental illness."
Semple refers to My Mad Fat Diary as a "breath of fresh air and will do a lot to change the
way young people think about mental health.".
In a more mixed review, Barry Hewitt of The Independent criticised E4 for relating the
programme to its other teen shows: "If such comparisons are unfair, blame it on E4, whose
continuity announcer declared: 'If you like Skins, The Inbetweeners and Misfits, you'll
like this.'
Well, sorry, I do like those three shows, but, even with a great soundtrack and the
odd nice line, My Mad Fat Diary is a long way from the equal of that trio in invention,
edge or humour."
My Mad Fat Diary star Sharon Rooney was chosen as one of the first group of BAFTA "Breakthrough
Brits" in 2013.
Season 2 was also positively received.
References
External links My Mad Fat Diary at Channel 4
My Mad Fat Diary at IMDB My Mad Fat Diary On Facebook