Mr Loverman’s Barry etis a Cheat, but not in the way his Wife Thinks…Mr Loverman premieres on M-Net on 20 August
In Mr Loverman, Barry (Line of Duty’s Lennie James) is a husband, father and grandfather who moved with his highly religious wife Carmel (Sharon D. Clarke, Holby City) from Antigua to Hackney in east London in the 1960s. He’s lived a double life there ever since, devoting himself to his family – but also continuing an affair he started with his lover Morris (Ariyon Bakare, Dr. Who) in their adolescence, before they fled the Caribbean as part of the Windrush Generation. This powerful story of 60 years of secret love and heartbreaking deception premieres on M-Net on 20 August at 9pm.
Equal parts moving and funny, the BAFTA-winning series is based on the novel of the same name by Booker Prize-winning author Bernardine Evaristo. At its heart, Mr Loverman is a life-affirming story about the struggle to be true to yourself when your truth will be met by so much hate - something Barry must come to terms with as he feels his life trickle away and his chance to live his truth with Morris, dim.
As Jennie Ramone wrote for The Conversation: ‘The first episode of the TV adaptation of Mr Loverman is preceded by the quotation: “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” Those words, voiced by protagonist Barry, belong to writer and civil rights activist James Baldwin, from his 1962 New York Times essay, As Much Truth as One Can Bear. The quotation alerts us to two important things about Barry in the TV drama – his vulnerability and his love of words. Barry avoids facing what he needs to change and distracts himself with his comfortable family home, his practised dapper style, ready eloquence and alcohol”.
The Guardian’s Lucy Mangan calls Mr Loverman “magnificent TV that will tear your heart open”, nothing that “…it never shies away from reality, including the homophobia of the family’s community, which is especially prevalent among Carmel’s posse of Christian ladies.
It doesn’t shy away, either, from Barry’s many flaws. Through his actions and inner monologue, viewers see life unfold around him; he is selfish, embittered and lacking in compassion. But Mr Loverman asks how you can avoid being any of these things when the world you grew up in forbade you to express yourself freely and you are discriminated against for your sexuality and your skin colour.”
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The Independent’s Nick Hilton says of the cast that James is “A reliable presence in British and international TV… as good as he’s ever been as the dapper, mercurial Barry. Bakare, too, is entirely convincing as his quieter, more dependable foil. At times, their scenes together have an almost theatrical quality, as the cascading lines of quasi-Shakespearean, dialect-infused speech fill kitchens and cafes.”
Mr Loverman is a groundbreaking depiction of generational repressed homosexuality in an ethnic minority community, exploring the depth and heights of true love in a system where people’s true feelings for each other are ruled to be illegal.
Mr Loverman premieres on M-Net on 20 August at 9pm and is also available on DStv Stream and DStv Catch Up. For more, visit the M-Net Website and join the conversation on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok and Facebook.