It’s off to Glasgow for Matilda Curtis and Ashley Storrie’s new six-part comedy Dinosaur.
Storrie plays Nina, a thirtysomething paleontologist whose tight bond with her sister Evie (Kat Ronney) is threatened after Evie becomes engaged to Ranesh (Danny Ashok) after only six weeks.
Nina’s unbridled scorn (“You’ve had thrush that’s lasted longer than six weeks”) also comes from anxieties caused by her autism (Storrie is herself autistic).
Dinosaur covers the wedding run-up (chaotic dress fittings; messy hen soirees). However, it’s really about Nina adjusting to change (“If he comes between me, you and Taylor Swift being friends…”).
While neurodiverse themes are explored, they’re just presented as part of Nina’s wider world, which includes a sweet, clumsy connection with a coffee-stand barista (Lorn Macdonald).
The show sometimes skips too lightly through potentially deeper moments that could have lent it more grit and substance.
Still, it has a cracking ensemble (including David Carlyle, Ben Rufus Green and Sabrina Sandhu), a script stuffed with irreverence and mischief, and an acid-witted, stereotype-busting gem in Nina.
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