“Unfortunately, the ’60s didn’t swing for everyone…”

Television set in the 60’s these days dials up a pretty high coolness quotient given that, for the most part, our frame of reference is Mad Men or BBC’s The Hour. Mr. Sloane, set in Watford in 1969, however, is at the opposite end of the Earth from Sterling Cooper’s Madison Avenue address in New York City. Jeremy Sloane (with an ‘E’, like the square) is no Don Draper. He wears a clip-on tie, for starters. Written and directed by Robert B. Weide, of Curb Your Enthusiasm fame, Mr. Sloane pushes all the right romantic comedy buttons with Jeremy Sloane being someone you really want to pull for…
 

Jeremy is a really nice guy. Unfortunately, a really nice guy not quite ready for the swinging 60’s going through a fairly sizable rough patch in life. He’s a buttoned-down 1960’s man in crisis trying to balance his failed attempts at marriage, career success and even suicide. It’s fair to say that 1969 isn’t shaping up to be the Watford-dweller’s year. Things are looking up, however, with a potential job opportunity on the horizon and the phone number of a prospective new love interest following a chance encounter in his local hardware store.
 

 
Having had the opportunity to screen the entire series at the BBC Showcase in Liverpool earlier this year, this is good telly. Make it a point to see this when it transmits. Well worth the effort. Mr. Sloane, which also stars Olivia Colman, Ophelia Lovibond and Peter Serafinowicz, is coming soon to Sky Atlantic HD. Hopefully, this will cross the Atlantic not long after and make its way to public television stations.