The Toit Stuff (about sitcoms)

I’m perhaps a bit late to the party with the ‘mindful’ part of the title, sorry, it was just a way to link the BBC comedy series Such Brave Girls (the topic of the blog, as is mentioned in the title) and mental health awareness, as that's a major theme of the series. It’s hard to even know where to start with trying to describe a show like SBG but I’ll give it a go (without hopefully spoiling too much).   The show came out last year, and stars Kat Sadler (who also created the series) and her irl sister, Lizzie Davidson, who, funnily enough, play sisters Josie and Billie (respectively). There’s a lot of talent involved in the show, generally, as Simon Bird, of The Inbetweeners fame, directed the show and Louise Brealey (who plays Deb, the Mum of Josie and Billie) appeared in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel , Sherlock and Bleak House . The show itself is a pretty dark and extreme one in a lot of ways as it deals with topics such as mental health, trauma, death and abortion...

This post’s a little different as it’s not so much about a TV show (although there may be some references to certain series and I’ll definitely be back to writing about them after this). Instead, it’s more of a look at the idea of creative writing and stories, as that’s another love of mine. Since childhood, I’ve always had a deep fascination with stories and characters and my love for them has only grown as I’ve become an adult (well, adultish). It maybe stems from the early love of books that was encouraged by my Mum as we read (and sometimes created) numerous stories together when I was a kid. I’d always loved books but soon became completely captivated by films and television as well and found the idea of creating stories to be very appealing (although I can’t vouch for the quality of stories at that time, or more recently, tbh). I did take a creative writing module at uni and always adored English literature and creative writing style classes. However, I didn’t have much confi...

‘We just have to pretend that we’re a normal, loving family. How long for?’ Just a couple of the many excellent and very quotable lines from the brilliant comedy series Alma’s Not Normal (which is the focus of this post, btw). Alma’s Not Normal stars (and was created by) Bafta winner Sophie Willan (who many may know from her memorable and hilarious stint on the most recent series of Taskmaster). The first season was released in 2020 and as season two is due to come out later this year (very exciting), I thought I’d take this opportunity to hype up Sophie Willan and the show as I’ve not seen that many people talking about it, which feels wrong as it really is 'bloody fabulous'. The show follows the life of the titular Alma and is based on a lot of Willan’s real life experiences of growing up in care in/around Bolton and being looked after by her Grandma because of her mother’s drug problem. The cast in general is incredible as, along with Willan, it also stars Jayde Ad...

As we just had TS Awareness Day (in the UK) on 21st June, I thought I’d do a post that was more personal and a bit of an insight into how this condition affects me (and possibly others). In all honesty, it's also partly due to the fact that I'm still deciding which show to write about next as one of the greatest TV shows of all time (‘Inside No.9’) very sadly came to an end recently so I’m trying to figure out which shows to watch and discuss next. I’ll also definitely gush a fair bit about this brilliant show and amazing creators/creatives over the next few posts though… Firstly, for those who don’t really know about the condition or my experience with it, Turner Syndrome is a genetic condition which can affect development in girls and women. There's a video which I'll attach at the bottom of the post as well as it explains a lot better than I would, tbh. It can affect girls and women in many different ways, as it can potentially cause complications relating to t...

I can’t believe that it’s taken me so long to properly discuss this show but here we go, it’s finally time. As the title suggests, this one’s all about the wonderful Canadian sitcom ‘Schitt’s Creek’. For those who don’t know it, ‘SC’ aired for six seasons from 2015 to 2020 and I, like many others, discovered and got hooked right in the middle of lockdown/COVID. Without spoiling it too much, I’ll just say that (it’s great) and that it follows the rich Rose family, Moira, Johnny and their adult son and daughter, David and Alexis. The show is about the family moving to the small town of Schitt’s Creek (that Johnny actually bought for David years before) after being scammed by their financial adviser and losing most of what they own. First off, the cast is truly brilliant as the iconic Catherine O’Hara ( Home Alone, Beetlejuice, Best in Show ) plays Moira, Eugene Levy ( Splash, American Pie ) plays Johnny while his real son, Dan Levy ( Happiest Season ), plays David and Annie Murphy ...

So excited to talk about this (Emmy winning) show as I can’t believe that I’ve hardly written about it on here. As the title (albeit, clumsily) suggests, this blog is about the brilliant new American sitcom ‘Abbott Elementary’, which stars Quinta Brunson (who created the show) and started airing in 2021. ‘AE’ is a mockumentary style sitcom (a bit like ’The Office’ or ‘Modern Family’ or, one of my personal faves, ‘Parks and Recreation’). ‘AE’ tells of the teachers in an elementary/primary school in Philadelphia with predominantly Black pupils and teachers and focuses on a lot of real things that many teachers in underfunded schools in USA with overworked and underpaid teachers really deal with all the time and how hard it is to be a teacher generally, even if it can also be incredibly rewarding. I’m sure that real teachers can perhaps resonate with certain aspects of the show but you don’t have to work in education to get at least a bit more of an understanding of what it’s like as...