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Many of the great children’s authors were far from innocent off the page. Dr Seuss was a notorious philanderer. Roald Dahl an inveterate antisemite. And AA Milne, according to his son, Christopher, was an exploitative father. Julian Hartswood, fictional writer of the bestselling Big Bear series, meanwhile, finds himself being accused of all of the above in Austin. Over the course of an Antipodean book tour he is cancelled for inadvertently endorsing a Neo-Nazi influencer, confronted by an apparent love child from a ’90s fling and caught using his long-lost, neurodivergent son in an PR stunt to redeem his image.
This amiable eight-part Australian-British series turns scandal and shoddy parenting into the stuff of gently comforting comedy-drama. Set both in Canberra — where father and eponymous son initially meet — and London, where the latter joins Julian and his wife/illustrator Ingrid, the show straddles two hemispheres and revolves around two men whose personalities are poles apart. While good-natured, 28-year-old Austin strives to build a meaningful relationship with his biological dad, cynical Julian seems more concerned with keeping his career from falling apart by making sure cameras catch every moment of the reunion.
If there’s nothing unexpected about how things play out — awkwardness becomes affection, self-involvement gives way to introspection — the series boasts a unique, charmingly unaffected performance from its lead, Michael Theo. A one-time participant on a neurodivergent dating show with no prior acting experience, the Australian more than holds his own opposite veteran British comic actors Ben Miller and Sally Phillips — well-cast as the shameless Julian and the warm, wry Ingrid.
Austin is not the first show to feature an autistic main character, but it does feel notable in how it broaches the condition as something that’s a facet of the protagonist’s life rather than its defining feature. His neurodivergent traits are neither overlooked nor overplayed; his idiosyncrasies and niche obsessions — Nutella-mustard sandwiches, Billie Piper’s career — balanced with a big personality. And while he is often hyper-literal and cuttingly direct in his interactions, the humour never stems from his faux-pas but the way his deadpan straight-talking punctures Julian’s ego.
But where Austin challenges certain stereotypes about autism, it can sometimes lean too heavily on clichés about cancel culture, mid-life malaise and self-discovery. The result is a comedy that’s often amusing but rarely unpredictable. For all the sweetness, some of the jokes could do with a bit more bite — that little hit of mustard in the chocolate spread.
★★★☆☆
On BBC1/iPlayer on April 4 at 9:30pm
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