Funny Woman (Sky Max/Now)Happy Valley (BBC One) | iPlayerConsent (Channel 4) | All 4The Shamima Begum Story (BBC Two) | iPlayer

“Can women be funny?” runs the old comedy query, which of course isn’t a question at all: rather, sexist drivel in flimsy disguise. As for TV dramas about female comics, recently there’s been the excellent Hacks, starring Jean Smart as a waspish Vegas veteran, and the New York-set The Marvelous Mrs Maisel, still wisecracking after four series.

Now there’s Sky’s six-part Funny Woman, written by Morwenna Banks and directed by Oliver Parker. Based on the 2014 Nick Hornby novel Funny Girl, it stars Gemma Arterton as Barbara, a Blackpool Belle beauty queen who tosses aside her tiara and waves goodbye to her father and aunt (David Threlfall and Rosie Cavaliero) to move to swinging 60s London in the hope of becoming the UK’s Lucille Ball. Struggles and traumas ensue: working in a snooty department store; fan dancing; sexual assault on a date (“Kick him in the cock!” someone yells). The newly christened Sophie Straw fi...
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