This very funny and sharply executed comedy series has a big heart, underneath a thick layer of dry, cheeky humour. The eponymous Austin is a 28-year-old autistic man, played with understated but thoroughly irresistible charm by Michael Theo, who was one of the stars of the ABC reality show Love on the Spectrum.
As the series begins, Austin’s preparing to introduce himself to his biological father, Julian, a British children’s book author who is unaware of his existence. Julian is perfectly brought to life by another irresistible, albeit more petulant, performance from British comedian Ben Miller.
Julian’s a bit of a twat, self-centred and vain but very entertainingly so, flapping around like a fish drowning in oxygen as he attempts to stave off a career crisis after retweeting a white supremacist.
He’s loth to admit any wrongdoing and from the early moments of the show (which was created by Joe Tucker and Lloyd Woolf, with Miller and Darren Ashton) exhibits a terrific ability to bury himself with his own words.
Julian breaks the news about the controversy to his wife, Ingrid, (played by the funny and charming Sally Phillips) by attempting to dismiss it as a “fuss about nothing.” When Ingrid, who illustrates his books, presses him for more information, Julian’s stammering response unfolds with the terrific awkwardness of a person coming to terms with his own inadequacy in real-time.
“Well it transpires that the original tweetee was, um, is, ah, quite a prominent, um, and rather active, um, very successful in his own right, er, neo-Nazi,” he bleats. Miller’s delivery nails it.
You can feel the writing starting to enter a loaded space when the screenwriters (Ashton, Miller, Kala Ellis, Joe Tucker, Lloyd Woolf and Adam Zwar) identify through Julian a couple of truths about the world we live in.
One: it’s not particularly welcoming to the idea that, as Julian insists, “bad people are sometimes right about certain things,” referring to the white supremacist’s views on freedom of speech (which he shares). And two: if you find yourself defending the views of a neo-Nazi, it’s safe to say you’ve probably made a significant miscalculation somewhere along the line.
The two key plotlines —Julian’s career crisis and Austin’s decision to meet his biological father – converge when the latter drops his bombshell at the worst possible moment: at a book signing in a shop that Julian discovers displays copies of Mein Kampf in the front window. Initially Julian wants nothing to do with Austin but then, during a meeting about rehabilitating his image, a bulb switches on: maybe it’s a good time to have a son on the spectrum who he can publicly support. And why not have a documentary crew on stand-by?
The show’s writers are careful not to give Julian an easy way out or a cute path to redemption. Theo, who was a script consultant, helps them find a comedic groove born from the lived experiences of the characters. His performance wonderfully contrasts Miller’s (and vice versa) and is funny in ways that feel effortless and genuine.
While Julian is predictably self-inclined, pathetically attempting to save his own hide, you’re never sure what Austin will do or say next. During his first family dinner with his newly acquainted father, for instance, Austin’s preliminary questions all involve inconsistencies on Julian’s Wikipedia page – which might not sound all that amusing, but it’s quite hilarious.
This series is full of gentle surprises, mostly born from the characters. Before you know it, apropos of nothing, Austin’s grandfather is monologising about enjoying the sensation of having a doctor’s finger inserted into his bottom, the actor who plays him – the veteran Roy Billing – somehow making this moment utterly charming.
A breezy tempo is well sustained by co-directors Darren Ashton and Madeleine Dyer across the show’s eight episodes, this review encompassing all them, which I wolfed down in a few days. The plotline involving Julian making a documentary about himself gets a tad silly, but even when the story slips a little, the writing and performances never lose their wit and sharpness. Another season, please!
Austin begins on ABC on Sunday at 8pm and is available on ABC iView.
