TV Review: SCROTAL RECALL S1E1, ABIGAIL Delivers A Hysterical And Surprisingly Earnest Take On Modern Relationships

Dylan has a problem. Young and earnest, a believer in true love and all of those things, Dylan is the sort of young man that you'd love to bring home to mom. But if you did you'd also be bringing home his chlamydia. Freshly diagnosed and with no idea how long he has been carrying the disease for, Dylan has no choice but to go back to every sexual partner he's ever had and break the news so they can be tested as well. Or, as his doctor points out, he could just go back to the ones he likes. And so, pen in hand, Dylan drafts out an alphabetical list and sets off to make his way through in order with -presumably - each sexual encounter providing the basis for an episode of sterling new Channel 4 comedy Scrotal Recall.

Episode one takes us to meet Abigail, the top of Dylan's alphabetical list, plunging us along the way into the heaping mass of hormones that is a wedding of twentysomethings surrounded by their single twentysomething friends. Throw in an inappropriately timed breakup, hidden relationship history, the groom's dubious relationship with alcohol and, well ... rather a lot happens with a seemingly endless supply of plates kept effortlessly spinning throughout.

Anchored by Tom Edge's fabulous script, firm direction from Elliot Hegarty and instantly likeable performances from Johnny Flynn as Dylan along with Antonia Thomas and Daniel Ings as best mates Evie and Luke, Scrotal Recall hits the ground running. This is a show that knows exactly what it wants to be and exactly how to get there. Flynn is the key that makes the whole thing work, playing Dylan as such a likeable and well intentioned guy that you can't help but sympathize as he fumbles his way through the situation, just as he seemingly fumbled his way through his entire sexual history. Were Dylan more of a predator - more like Daniel Ings' Luke, say - then any sense of empathy would be gone instantly and the whole thing would crumble.

Imagine the love child of Judd Apatow and Edgar Wright and you're getting into the right space with Scrotal Recall. The writing is certainly witty and stylized but not so much as to obscure the human core of the characters, the content poking gleeful fun at the foolishness its characters engage in in the service of sex and relationships. It's edginess relies more on wit than raunch, which is a refreshing change, and the treatment of its characters surprisingly heartfelt. Time will tell if it has legs but one episode in and Scrotal Recall is one of the most promising British comedies of recent years.