We're constantly on the lookout for great new telly to sink our teeth into, especially for all those frustrating times when you sit down in front of the box and suddenly draw a blank.
You know there’s a wealth of exciting stuff out there, and yet sometimes it feels IMPOSSIBLE to find – and you’re left scrolling endlessly through the channels before ultimately settling on an old rerun of Location, Location, Location... again.
But there’s one ‘brilliant’ series that may have passed you by, as it’s not actually aired on TV yet, having gone straight to ITV’s streaming site, ITVX.
The digital-first approach is something that ITV’s been doing more of recently, from Nolly with Helena Bonham Carter to Lenny Henry’s drama The Little Birds.
And it’s exactly what the channel has done for The Dry, a comedy-drama that’s not only been dubbed ‘Irish Fleabag’, but is also produced by the company behind the BBC’s stirring Normal People adaptation.
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Starring Roisin Gallagher, Siobhán Cullen, Moe Dunford and Ciarán Hinds, the show follows a woman in recovery from alcoholism who returns home to Dublin to find her family struggling with her sobriety.
The first series debuted back in 2022, but The Dry has since returned for a second instalment that dropped on ITV just a matter of weeks ago.
Since then, fans have been thrilled by its comeback, with one tweeting recently: “Can’t recommend The Dry [on] ITV enough.”
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Someone else said: “The Dry - just brilliant. Nancy Harris & a bloody brilliant cast @ITV.”
A third wrote: “Recommend The Dry 2 series on ITV X with the brilliant Roisin Gallagher and of course Ciaràn Hinds #thedry.”
A fourth added: “The Dry is on ITV x and is a family drama comedy, 30 minute episodes, cracking dialogue, sharp observations of family dynamics and a middle aged woman attempting to stay sober - ‘dry.’”
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Viewers also previously said it was ‘funny and relatable’ as they ‘compulsively watched’ the first season, with one begging ITV: “Erm hi @ITV@ITVX could we pls have more tv shows like The Dry pls. Many thanks.”
Another tweeted: “I’m compulsively watching The Dry on ITV. Irish written, directed, acted and Bafta nominated. It is funny, often too raw and real, and really brilliant.”
Indeed, it’s proven so good that the programme's managed to land itself a rare feat on Rotten Tomatoes – not just a perfect 100 percent critics’ score, but the same from viewers, too.
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A five-star rating from The Guardian for season two said that the latest offering is ‘immaculately plotted and full of authentic detail, offering a pitiless examination of the unhappinesses we live with, the harms they make us do to ourselves and each other and the dearth of easy solutions’.
“We delve further and further into the dysfunction of the family – and of other relationships around them – without things ever becoming histrionic,” it added.
“The Dry remains a dense, clever, deeply sad, deeply funny achievement.”
The Telegraph also argued that Harris’ ‘deliciously dark, witty writing’ had ‘strengthened’ even further since season one, awarding four stars out of five.
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Watch both seasons of The Dry on ITVX now.
Topics: ITV, TV And Film
Jess Hardiman