Review: The Delivery Man, Season One (2015)

Following its successful run on ITV earlier this year, quirky comedy The Delivery Man will soon be available as a box set.

The show is written by the creators of Green Wing and Smack the Pony, and it’s abundant in the same kind of snappy humour you’d expect from those previous projects.

Darren Boyd (Spy, Fortitude) takes the lead as ex-police constable Matthew Bunting, who we follow in his new profession as a junior midwife. Matthew has a terrible habit of saying the wrong thing at the wrong time, leading to awkward encounters with patients and colleagues, as well as plenty of funny moments.

The series boasts a fantastic supporting cast: Fay Ripley (Cold Feet) plays Caitlin, a senior midwife and recent divorcee with a burning hatred for all men; Irish comedian Aisling Bea is Matthew’s love interest, Lisa, who has a very angry ex-boyfriend; Llewella Gideon (Absolutely Fabulous) takes on the role of no-nonsense midwife Pat; and Jennie Jaques (Vikings) is the naïve Tash.

We also have Alex Macqueen, best known for playing Neil’s sexually confused father in the hugely successful Inbetweeners franchise, starring as the incredibly sarcastic senior obstetrician Luke Edwards. For those of you who’ve seen the American hospital comedy Scrubs, he reminded me of a very British Dr. Cox.

Finally, we have Take Me Out presenter Paddy McGuinness as Ian, Matthew’s old police colleague who gets suspended and finds a job as a security guard at the hospital – of course, he’s not very good at this job. McGuinness is responsible for most of the show’s laugh-out-loud moments, aided by his infectious enthusiasm and comedic timing.

Throughout the series, we see Matthew trying to hide a 16-year-old father from the mother’s disapproving parents, helping another dad who has two partners in labour at the same time, keeping the pregnancy of a minor celebrity secret from the press, investigating a drugs theft, and finding the mother of an abandoned baby.

The Delivery Man is a rare series, as I’ve found recent homegrown comedies to be lacking, well, comedy. But this is well written, with some great examples of wordplay, and it perfectly encapsulates British humour.

The Delivery Man is available on DVD on July 20.