A TV show with an out lesbian as its star? Yes, please, sign me up. A TV show with an out lesbian as its star playing a lesbian lead character? Yes, please, sign me up. A TV show with an out lesbian as its star playing a lesbian lead character who is a vet? Yes, please, sign me up! So many good things. Real lesbians! TV lesbians! Veterinarians which means cute animals! Yes, yes, so many yeses.
But then, um, then I watched the new British comedy “Heading Out” and, well. Yes? Look, I know it’s practically sacrilege to not like a show by a lesbian about lesbians. But I kind of didn’t like BBC Two’s “Heading Out.” And I really, really, really wanted to. It just didn’t work. At least not the pilot episode.
You see, on paper I should love a show starring out British comic Sue Perkins about a vet who gets pushed out of the closet on her 40th birthday. While I’m not familiar with Sue’s work, I have heard good things about it and was very much looking forward to seeing her new show. And then I did. Now perhaps it’s just that something got lost in translation in the British humor. Like that whole netball bit. But I just didn’t enjoy the awkward, and even callous, character played by Sue. Not that I have a problem with awkward characters, but they need a certain amount of charm to work well. And so far, charming is not the adjective I’d apply to Sue’s Sara. More like a ungainly adolescent with legal access to pentobarbital.
Is there space to grow? Of course. And I certainly hope it does. Pilots are often the worst episode of any series, because everyone is still finding their feet. The setup is promising. And I’ll watch almost anything to catch a glimpse of Shelley Conn. (Like really, anything. I watched that boring dinosaur show a lot longer than I should have.) And sexy Lexy from “Lip Service” Anna Skellern will also appear. And that’s a lot to like. So, maybe I’ll tough it out and get over the dead cat in the handbag. I certainly hope, that like the gay experience in general, it gets better.
