Television series
My Mad Fat Diary
Set in 90s Lincolnshire and based on Rae Earl's real teenage diaries, this is a coming-of-age comedy-drama that doesn't flinch from mental illness, body image or first love. Sharon Rooney's Rae narrates her own life with brutal wit even as she leaves a psychiatric ward. Funny, sad, and needle-drop-heavy, it's for anyone who wants their teenage nostalgia served with real teeth.
If you liked this
Skins2007
British teen ensemble drama that treats mental illness, addiction and heartbreak as ordinary parts of growing up rather than plot twists, with the same needle-drop confidence and refusal to tidy anyone up.
But Rougher edges and less earnest, with tonal whiplash between comedy and tragedy that can feel more careless than MMFD's.

My So-Called Life1994
The original diary-voice teen drama - Angela Chase's inner monologue does exactly what Rae's narration does, turning ordinary adolescent agony into something universal and quietly devastating.
But Slower, more earnest 90s pacing, and only one season exists, which can feel like an unfinished thought.

The End of the F***ing World2017
Dry, deadpan British voiceover carrying two damaged teenagers through something much darker than a normal coming-of-age story, with the same instinct for finding jokes inside despair.
But Colder and more clipped than MMFD, less interested in warmth and more in unease.

The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
Splendor in the Grass1961
Natalie Wood's Deanie has a breakdown over first love and repression and ends up institutionalized - the exact arc MMFD tells decades later, just with jokes and a mixtape instead of Freudian doctors and silence.
A gorgeous, aching melodrama about a teenage girl whose desire and heartbreak tip her into a psychiatric ward, made when talking about any of this openly was almost unthinkable.
But Stagey, slow and thoroughly humourless by comparison - this is 1961 Hollywood grief, not 2013 mixtape comedy.

More like this (7)
Please Like Me2013
Australian dramedy that treats depression with the same unflinching honesty and surprising gentleness, following a young man's mental health collapse without ever losing its sense of humour.
But Quieter and more meandering, with less plot momentum than MMFD's diary structure.

Sex Education2019
British teen dramedy unpacking body shame, sex and self-worth with big heart and bigger laughs, sharing MMFD's belief that humiliating teenage moments deserve tenderness, not mockery.
But Glossier and more optimistic in tone - the stakes rarely feel as raw as Rae's.

Derry Girls2018
Same nostalgic, soundtrack-driven comedy engine, just relocated to 90s Northern Ireland, with a gang of misfit teenagers stumbling gloriously through adolescence and history at once.
But Broader and sillier, and largely uninterested in the mental health thread that anchors MMFD.

Freaks and Geeks1999
The American ancestor of this kind of show - awkward, unglamorous teenagers, a killer soundtrack, and a refusal to make anyone the villain of their own adolescence.
But Cancelled after one season, and its late-70s setting trades Rae's rawer subject matter for gentler stakes.

Fleabag2016
An unreliable narrator talking straight to camera while quietly falling apart behind the jokes - the adult, London version of what Rae's diary voiceover is doing.
But Sexually explicit and more cynical, with none of the coming-of-age softness MMFD keeps returning to.

Big Mouth2017
MMFD gives Rae an imaginary double who voices her self-loathing; Big Mouth literalises the same trick, turning hormones and anxiety into actual grotesque characters shouting inside a teenager's head.
Filthy, hilarious animated series about puberty that's secretly just as interested in shame, anxiety and self-image as MMFD, just louder, cruder and drawn in crayon.
But Aggressively crude and sexually explicit in a way that's a world away from MMFD's grounded realism.

Boy Interrupted2009no page yet
Where MMFD uses comedy to make Rae's illness bearable to watch, this HBO documentary - made by a mother about her own bipolar son - offers no jokes at all, just the reality the show is gently fictionalising.
A devastating, unflinching documentary about a family living with a child's bipolar disorder, told with a rawness no scripted drama, however honest, can quite match.
But There's no comic relief here and no fictional distance - this is real grief, and it sits with you long after the credits.
People
Cast
Production
- Jacquie GlanvilleCo-Producer
- Greg BrenmanExecutive Producer
- Jude LiknaitzkyExecutive Producer
- Roanna BennExecutive Producer
- Tom BidwellExecutive Producer
- Will GouldExecutive Producer
- Elinor DaySupervising Producer
Recommended by
Derry Girls, Heartstopper, Never Have I Ever, Skins, Byker Grove, The End of the F***ing World, SKAM