Here lies my brief take on the BBC's new five part series - Love, Nina. Based on the book by Nina Stibbe, and written by Nick Hornby, it essentially chronicles the tale of Leicester born Nina, the 20 year old newly-instated nanny in a middle-class London home, employed by a middle-class single mother,and guardian to two eccentric young boys.
With a very simple premise, Love, Nina is billed as a comedy-drama, and whilst I wouldn't categorize it as out and out comedic (though there were a couple of funny moments) nor really at all dramatic, I do feel it has a unique charm all of its own; the likes of which I have not seen before.
There is no question - the delightful Faye Marsay dominates proceedings as the titular character. But again, the situations she gets into are not that dramatic (most of the time she seems to be just walking barefoot about 1980s London) and barring a few crackers she isn't particularly funny I'm afraid to say. Yet she creates a character who is instantly believable, endearingly cute and compelling, is quite charismatic, and who is also incredibly warm and loveable too. Any scene opposite anyone and Faye Marsay lights up the screen. She carries Love, Nina for me and is the key reason I kept watching week on week.
Another headline name featured among the cast list is Helena Bonham Carter as Nina's employer George. Yes she brings an amount of gravitas and high-end aloofness that is pleasing, yet at times I often found myself wondering what she was doing there. Yes she adds another element but at times it is superficial at best - and her impact seems to drift in and out of a scene as airily and as fading as her character does sometimes. Even when she is given mildly significant plot points to drive through she does not do it with much conviction at all, in my view.
What's more the case of Helena Bonham Carter is repeated amongst most of the rest of the cast to my mind. Yes you can forgive child actors Ethan Rouse and Harry Webster as Joe and Max a little as I think their parts seemed superficially written, and actually they do give quite a nice, naive element to Love, Nina that does occasionally provide some simple comedy too. Yet it often seems like they are there just for the sake of it. As is the case with staple character actor Jason Watkins as Malcolm, the eccentric and often cantankerous Scottish neighbor who I couldn't work out the narrative, dramatic or comedic purpose of throughout the series, despite him very occasionally providing tidbits of laughter.
Again, Nina's love interest 'Nunney' played by Joshua McGuire gave a promise of a new interesting dynamic, but fell predictably and disappointingly flat almost immediately afterwards.
There aren't necessarily many overtly bad points to Love, Nina, its just there seems to be quite a few occasions where a lot of elements just fail to hit the mark, or even get off the mark, Yet the combination of its titular character and the overall unique feel of the programme is just enough to get across the idea of a charming, pleasant and quite delightful series of five half hours.
