Sky 1's "The Cafe"

It's not usual for me to write a review about a TV show, well, because I don't watch much TV. So I guess I would be the kind of person to write a review for a British sitcom I saw on PBS Saturday evening. (...kindly don't read too far into that.) I'm only writing a review for it because no one I know seems to have heard of it, and I want to change that.

I don't know much about Sky 1's 2011 series, except that it is perfectly charming in every single way, under appreciated, and that I love it. In a lot of ways it reminds me of The Gilmore Girls, but without the rapid-fire dialogue that got under some people's skin. 

It's funny, but not in the side-splitting way. Rather in the extremely smile-inducing way. It's as cozy and friendly as a tattered, yellowed paperback and a cup of Earl Grey. It's about three women - a grandmother, mother, and daughter - who run a small cafe on the Bristol coast. The cafe is sort of the town's landmark. The mother is secretly struggling to keep from losing the family business while also falling for the local florist, while the daughter is a young 20-something unpublished children's author who has recently returned home from London after her ex-kicked her out.

I'm very fond of this show. It's largely character driven rather than plot driven - what with all of the qwirky small town characters who inhabit the show... Not to mention some great lines:

"Well talk of the devil!"

"End of the day, Frank. End of the day." 

"Oh Em Gee!"

"You're a poet and you didn't realize it."

"Lay-Urs!"

"Good One."

and my very personal favorite...

"It takes a new man on your body to get the old one off of your mind."

This series is very short and very sweet, and what wouldn't I do for more? Only six episodes in the first season?! NOOO!!! (There was a year's delay, but finally Sky 1 has announced that a 2nd series is in the works for later this year. The DVD, at least in the UK, was released February 4th.)

It's hard to track this series down to watch here in America. Hopefully we can get the DVDs here sometime soon! Until then, I stream the series from the PBS website.
Lay-urs!