Scrotal Recall: as titles go, it wasn’t everyone’s bag. When the Channel 4 sitcom first aired in 2014, both critics and viewers struggled to get past that name, despite it being an ingenious low-humour wrapper for the show’s high concept. Armed with a list of his past lovers, footloose young romantic Dylan �� played with shaggy charm by sometime folk musician Johnny Flynn, half-brother of Jerome – embarked on a quest to inform them of his recent chlamydia diagnosis. Each episode, named for the old flame, then flashed back to their original hook-up. Here was the postmodern sleight of hand of a slick US hit like How I Met Your Mother beefed up with the sexual frankness of post-Skins young-adult Britcoms.
Perhaps the real surprise of Scrotal Recall, though, was that it was sweet as well as funny, a far more sophisticated comedy than that playground title (and eyebrow-raising premise) suggested. After six brief episodes dipping into the lives of Dylan and his best friends Evie (unrequited love) and Luke (self-involved swordsman), it ended on a cliffhanger. Then it got cancelled. “I think it took some time for us all to realise quite how deep the squeamishness around the word ‘scrotal’ goes,” sighs Flynn. “The woman who runs my son’s nursery said: ‘I don’t think it’s for me.’” But now it’s back, revived by Netflix and rebranded with a less aggressive title: Lovesick.
“There were murmurings that Netflix might pick it up,” says Antonia Thomas, who plays Evie. “But we didn’t want to hold out hope. We are all genuinely friends, though, so we would meet up and share gossip about what we’d heard.” Despite the streaming giant’s moneybags rep, the Netflix annexation doesn’t appear to have affected the show from a production point of view: it reunited cast and crew in Glasgow to film the extended eight-episode second season. “For something like this,” says Daniel Ings, who plays Luke, “it wouldn’t be right to suddenly up the budget by millions and go shoot an episode in Thailand, or space.”
Instead, the show continues to explore the relationship between Dylan, Evie and Luke. University pals who’ve helped each other through rocky romances, they’re now facing up to the uncertainties of “proper” adult life, a theme echoed in current critical hits such as Fleabag, Atlanta and Netflix’s own Judd Apatow-produced Love.
Lovesick’s secret weapon is its flashback structure. While an overarching storyline set in the present day inches forward, the majority of each episode flashes back to reveal how a particular name ended up on Dylan’s list, like a trip in a sexual Tardis. But it’s not just about him getting his rocks off. Like Lost, the flashbacks illuminate why characters turned out a certain way, even if some of the connections are oblique.
There is also no shortage of the reference comedy beloved of US sitcoms like Community and Brooklyn Nine-Nine. In an early episode, for example, Luke acts out a one-man version of Keanu Reeves’s cult hit Point Break – but these characters feel like real people trying to navigate their way into adulthood rather than just a collection of pop-culture riffs and romcom tropes. Flynn puts it down to Lovesick being the work of a singular voice, creator Tom Edge. “Other comedies have a team of writers trying to come up with snappy ideas,” he says. “This is one person’s heartfelt reflection on this period of life. Tom has wisdom as well as wit.”
As well as continuing the lusty adventures of Dylan, Lovesick’s second season will also shade in details of the original flatsharing experience that forged his enduring bond with Evie and Luke. Flynn – 33 and a father of two – recognises the appeal of reliving those responsibility-free years.
“I have a real nostalgia for the last shared house I lived in,” he says. “When I look back at it, it feels like they were golden years, although people would slowly peel off and get married, and then suddenly you had to find another friend who hadn’t sorted their life out to come and be part of your gang.” If being a fan of the original Scrotal Recall could sometimes feel like being in a secret gang, Netflix are throwing the doors wide open with Lovesick. It might just prove contagious.
Lovesick season 2 launches on Netflix on Thursday 17 November
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