Saw the first episode and already hate it

I watched the first episode of this show, and so far I am very disappointed. As an Autistic man, This show felt badly written and annoying.

Warning - contains spoilers -

David Tenant is the hard working, long suffering father, who (understandably) drowns his sorrows with alcohol and shirks his terrible home life by "working late". He openly shows contempt for his family (also understandable) and is continuously mocked and scolded. His suffering appears to be part of the usual "liberal" trend of mocking the white heterosexual male just for being there.

Jessica Hynes plays the mother, who adopts a fairly feckless attitude at times, yet has a holier than thou stance when fulfilling certain duties, such as keeping her mentally handicapped daughter up well past her bed time. We periodically cut to her having given birth to her daughter Rosie, in the early 00s. She is constantly told nothing is wrong, yet all the signs are there. Given how aware we are of these issues now, I find it unbelievable.

The 11 year old son is portrayed as a side character, who is just there. He is easy going about the whole situation, and doesnt express any unease, jealousy, embarrassment or neglect, which would be normal for older siblings in similar situations. This missed opportunity doesnt look as if it will be addressed.

Rosie is the daughter with learning difficulties. We are not told what they are, which is even more frustrating. Again, in this day and age, we have so many systems in place to diagnose these problems and handle them more effectively than we did 20 years ago. This series takes place in 2015, which would mean Rosie is about 10 years old. She is treated like an infant, which is normal in these situations, but little attempt seems to be made to move her towards maturity, they simply accept this is how she is.

Guidelines and boundaries are not put in place, and bribery is frequently used. This "soft parenting" approach Is increasingly common in "adults" Of my generation, which is further exacerbated by laziness, the stigma of punishment and the desire to appease.

Other issues I took with this program were how they were able to afford to live in London and what the father did for work. This was billed as a comedy drama, but I feel this moniker was added on in a cynical attempt to make it more marketable and appealing.

However, I shouldnt be too surprised, as this came from the people that gave us the derisive and badly written "Autistic" Drama "The A Word".

If you want to see well written dramas about disability, I recommend channel 4's 1999 ADHD drama "Kid in the corner" And Netflix's Autistic family comedy drama "Atypical", which is now in its second season.