With the new series Colin From Accounts - streaming on Paramount+ following a Foxtel/Binge debut in its native Australia - creator/stars Patrick Brammall and Harriet Dyer have set themselves possibly one of the most difficult challenges in the history of romantic comedies.
How do you make a show in which, within the first five minutes, the main characters are responsible for running over an adorable dog and, by the end of eight episodes, have the audience liking those characters, if not necessarily rooting for their coupling?The answer comes down to clever writing and the chemistry between Brammall and Dyer, who are married in addition to their collaborations here. Colin From Accounts never wholly shakes its “They ran over a dog!” bleakness - the dog, it should be emphasized clearly, is mostly OK - nor does it wholly break out from the rom-com conventions it’s so keenly aware of. But it’s a show that very swiftly establishes a wide emotional range, as well as a capable and deep ensemble around its two leads.
I said “First five minutes,” but Colin From Accounts is actually far more efficient than that, and efficiency may be the series’ greatest strength.