There are some actors who are beyond just being “good” or even “great;” you look at them and just get lost in how well they’ve embodied a particular character and marvel at even the small things they do to make that character come alive. Lennie James is one of those actors, and in a new BBC/BritBox dramedy, all of his copious skills come into play in the title role.
Opening Shot: Two older men dance in a crowd at a local pub in London, having a grand time.
The Gist: The two older men are Barrington Walker (Lennie James) and Morris De La Roux (Ariyon Bakare). The dapper, charming Barry busts Morris’ chops about not drinking that night, but Morris says the booze is messing with his memory. When Morris drives Barry home, Barry is stumbling drunk.
Barry tries to enter quietly, but Carmel (Sharon D. Clarke), his wife of 50 years, wakes up, anyway. She’s pretty angry that Barry has spent another night drinking, and she’s pretty sure he’s been sleeping around on her. Carmel tells Barry that her father, who’s in his 90s, is gravely ill, and she’s going back to Antigua to see him. When she gets back, she claims, things are going to change.
Barry swears that “I have not slept with any other women but you.” He’s actually right; he’s actually been cheating on Carmel with Morris. Morris is Barry’s one true love, and they’ve been together for just about as long as Barry has been with Carmel, going all the way back to when all three of them were living in Antigua.
Both men are of the generation where coming out was out of the question. Morris is publicly out, but not by choice, and it cost him almost everything when it happened decades prior. Barry, though, has kept his true self hidden from everyone but Morris for all this time. Even his daughters Donna (Sharlene Whyte) and Maxine (Tamara Lawrance) and Donna’s son Daniel (Tahj Miles) don’t know; they all call Morris “Uncle Morris” because of his constant presence.
That Sunday, while Carmel is in church, Barry has Morris over and swears to him that he’s finally going to tell Carmel the truth and leave her. Morris has heard this before, and while hopeful this time, still has doubts. Carmel comes home with ladies from the church, and Donna, Daniel and Maxine all come over for lunch. The conversation soon turns ugly when the ladies gossip about someone from the church who is rumored to be gay. As they all talk about it, one of the ladies uses the term “anti-man” for gay men, making Barry visibly angry.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Written by Nathaniel Price and based on Bernardine Evaristo’s novel, Mr. Loverman is almost like Heartstopper, but with senior citizens who have trouble coming out to those closest to them.
Our Take: Mr. Loverman is one of those shows that compels you to keep watching, and for a number of reasons. For one, there’s the transfixing lead performance from Lennie James. Anyone who has followed James’ career, especially during the early years of The Walking Dead, knows what he’s capable of. But as Barry, James shows the breadth of his skills.
Firstly, just like Bakare and Clarke, James is playing a character who is older than he is in real life, but just because Barry is in his seventies doesn’t mean his thirst for living his life has diminished in any way; he wants to be out late, he wants to dance, he wants to shake hands and smile with everyone in the neighborhood. And there is still a sense of whimsy and wonder in his expressions, even when his conversations get serious.
James is supported by fine performances all around. Clarke, who fans of British TV last saw in Inspector Ellis, shows all the weary anger that someone who has been married to an alleged carouser like Barry for half a century might have. And Bakare shows infinite patience as Morris, who has been waiting just about the same half-century for Barry to finally embrace his true self so they can be together full-time. Sometimes it feels that Morris is too patient with Barry, but as the series goes along, he’s starting to finally assert himself and say to Barry that he has to make a choice.
But the other thing that keeps us watching is that Price has been able to replicate the world around Barry that was in Evaristo’s novel. We’re given enough glimpses into Donna’s and Maxine’s lives, for instance, to show us how they relate to the world around them and how they relate to their parents. Donna, a single mother to Oxford-bound Daniel, is fiercely independent and forthright, while Maxine is more flighty. In fact, Maxine always has Barry wrapped around her fashionable fingers, as we see later in the season.
Their relationships with Barry point out that he has a devotion to his family that he does not want to tear apart, even at this advanced age. It’s one of the reasons why he keeps telling Morris that he’s going to leave Carmel but finds it hard to do so, even when she’s looking at him with extreme hatred in her soul.
Sex and Skin: There are some sex scenes, mostly involving younger versions of Barry and Morris.
Parting Shot: In the car on the way to the airport, Carmel asks Barry to come with her to Antigua, and we see flashes of both of them at the age when they first got married. Barry says no, and the two of them stare straight ahead in silence.
Sleeper Star: Tamara Lawrance, who was excellent in the title role in Get Millie Black, plays a completely different character here as Maxine Walker, and is just as effective.
Most Pilot-y Line: Nothing we could find.
Our Call: STREAM IT. Mr. Loverman is a tour de force for Lennie James, but it’s also an affecting story of a man who struggles to be his true self and knows what the consequences are if he comes out at his advanced age.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.