What We Watch

Name: Genevieve Terblanche.

Position: senior writer, home alone for the holidays.

I am watching: British comedy Toast Of London season 1 of 3 (2013-2015) on Netflix.

My take on this show: Steven Toast (Matt Berry, Laszlo in vampire comedy series What We Do In The Shadows, 2019-now) is a bitter, jealous, failed actor with a titanic ego who shouldn’t be allowed within sniffing distance of a red carpet, even as a seat filler. It’s a concept explored in Ricky Gervais’s comedy show Extras (2005-2007), but this is the pantomime horse version. A bit cheap, a lot shabby, with the stale whiff of a ’70s sex farce – yet with a delightful knack for surreal visual humour.

My favourite moment so far: in season 1 episode 1, when Toast mentions attending comedian Caroline Quentin’s (Dorothy in sitcom Men Behaving Badly, 1992-1998) housewarming, the camera shows a massive palace lit up at night. Pure actor envy!

I re-watched