Television series

Him & Her

Him & Her is a BBC sitcom about a couple living together in unglamorous reality: hungover mornings, pointless arguments, and the comedy of two people who genuinely like each other but are fundamentally lazy. It's warm without being saccharine, funny without trying too hard. For anyone who's lived with a partner and recognised themselves in the mess.

TVMaze rating3.0

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like comedy that lingers on the small untidy habits of a couple's day, where the jokes come from recognition rather than plot machinery.

Skip it if the mostly low-stakes bickering and mundane rows may feel slight if you want plot momentum or a sharper edge than observational chat gives.

What it asks of you: Thirty minutes an episode across four seasons, with a loose, unhurried attention that enjoys long stretches of nothing much happening rather than demanding focus.

If you liked this

Fleabag2016

Fast, messy, and utterly honest about attraction and disaster. Phoebe Waller-Bridge captures the same exhilarating chaos of actual romance—the sex, the shame, the stupid jokes that only make sense to you both.

But The fourth wall breaks and meta-commentary won't appeal if you prefer traditional narrative structure. Some find the main character exhausting rather than endearing.

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Catastrophe2015

Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney play a couple that forms impulsively and messily, then must actually live together. It's tender underneath the cringe, brutally funny about commitment, and genuinely moving about real partnership.

But The show gets darker and heavier as it goes on. If you want unrelenting lightness, it will disappoint you by season three.

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Peep Show2003

Hand-held camera and first-person narration put you inside two men's heads as they stumble through flatshare chaos. It finds the comedy in everyday mediocrity and social humiliation without ever breaking character.

But The constant cringe and low-grade desperation of the protagonists will wear some viewers down. It's relentlessly awkward.

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Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Him & Her

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Normal People2020

Both treat a relationship as comedy and tragedy simultaneously, finding the whole story in small moments—breakfast, a text message, a row about nothing. Both understand that the funniest and saddest thing is how ordinary love actually is.

Adapting Sally Rooney's novel into twelve half-hour episodes, each following one conversation or encounter between Marianne and Connell across years. It's shot like arthouse cinema—long silences, bodies in rooms, the space between words mattering. Utterly intimate.

But The quietness and lack of obvious plot movement will bore anyone needing conventional drama. Some find the characters emotionally withholding rather than realist. And yes, there are explicit sex scenes.

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More like this (8)

Chewing Gum2015

Michaela Coel's sitcom about a young woman navigating sex, relationships, and identity with absolute fearlessness and genuine warmth. Chaotic, sexy, funny, and utterly alive.

But The rapid-fire editing and tonal shifts between silly and serious can feel exhausting if you're in the mood for something gentler.

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This Time with Alan Partridge2019

Corey and Neil's comedy about actual daytime television is so effortlessly funny that you barely notice it's about two men's working relationship and quiet affection.

But If you're not familiar with The Chase or British breakfast television, much of the humour will pass you by. It's very insider.

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People Just Do Nothing2014

A mockumentary about pirate radio DJs that's obsessed with the texture of friendship—the in-jokes, the small betrayals, the absolute loyalty underneath. Deeply human.

But It's deadpan and understated to the point of invisibility if you're not paying close attention. The humour sneaks up.

People Just Do Nothing poster

Raised by Wolves2020

Celia Imrie and Alison Steadman as estranged sisters rebuilding a relationship. It's funny, warm, and completely unsentimental about family and growing old together.

But The pacing is leisurely. If you need plot momentum, you'll find it slow.

Raised by Wolves poster

Dates2013

Bryan Cranston anthology series about real dates gone wrong. Each episode is a complete story—sometimes painfully awkward, sometimes surprisingly sweet, always recognisable.

But As an anthology, there's no continuity or character investment to keep you going between episodes. Quality varies.

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Lovesick2014

A man tries to track down everyone he slept with to make amends. It sounds contrived, but it's actually a gorgeous show about how people grow and change and stay connected to each other.

But The premise is a little try-hard, and some of the early episodes lean into millennial angst that hasn't aged brilliantly.

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Sightseers2012

Both find comedy in the absolute normality of a couple's domestic life, then explore what happens when that intimacy turns strange. Wheatley asks: what if being close to someone actually breaks you?

Ben Wheatley's film about a couple who go on a caravan holiday and start murdering people. It's a dark comedy that takes the 'couple against the world' concept to its logical extreme, whip-smart and grotesque.

But It's violently graphic and morally cheerless. The couple are likeable but genuinely awful. If you watch it expecting warmth, you'll feel betrayed.

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Brief Encounter1945

Both are about desire and domesticity, but this came first and in the opposite register. Where Him & Her finds comedy in lazy togetherness, Brief Encounter finds tragedy in the inability to be together. Same obsession with what a glance means—just pointed the other direction.

Noël Coward's masterpiece about a married woman and a man who fall in love at a train station café. It's beautifully shot, delicately acted, and absolutely heartbreaking. The opposite of showy—everything you need to know is in how they look at each other.

But It's a 1945 British film in black and white. The pacing is deliberate. Patience required. And it's devastating—don't watch if you want comfort.

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