The most recent season of an Australian series that left viewers ‘laughing out loud’ is now streaming for free in the UK.
Launching in 2021, Fisk was co-created and co-written by comedian Kitty Flanagan, best known for appearing on panel shows including Full Frontal, Rove Live, The Project and Have You Been Paying Attention?
In 2001 she also moved to the UK, where she lived for eight years and featured on The Sketch Show, also regularly touring to perform stand-up.
But it was Fisk that has seen Kitty, 54, become a household name. Just last weekend the third season swept Australia’s Logie Awards, winning all five awards for the categories it was nominated in.
The show follows the titular Helen-Tudor Fisk, who moves back home to Melbourne from Sydney after her marriage and carrier broke down.
She then manages to find a job at a small legal firm – Gruber & Gruber – run by siblings Ray (Marty Sheargold) and Roz (Julia Zemiro) and which specialises in probate law and wills.
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Despite its seemingly banal premise, the workplace comedy has become a massive hit.
It was labelled ‘Australia’s funniest sitcom in years’ by Screen Hub, while other critics called it ‘sublime’, a ‘delightful surprise’ and ‘deliciously dry’.
‘This series is a fast-paced, funny, eccentric look into a woman’s journey to redemption,’ Common Sense Media wrote in its reviews.
‘The show has a strange, low-key charm, and vibrates at a comic frequency unlike anything else on TV now, and is worth watching for that alone,’ The Straits Time shared.
‘Not quite as strange as Stath Lets Flats but set in a similarly askew world populated by enchanting oddballs…if you wish you could mash up Boston Legal and The Office, try this,’ The New York Times added.
Meanwhile viewers said it left them ‘laughing out loud’ and was the ‘funniest TV show we’ve seen in ages’.
The second season of Fisk was released in 2022, while the third aired in Australia late last year. This week the most recent was released on ITVX, with all three seasons available to binge for free.
ITV has teased of the new episodes: ‘Stakes are higher for Helen. Being a name partner brings more responsibility, and her first challenge is to pitch herself as Ray’s replacement in the local business networking group.
Other shows to binge on ITVX
‘Ray has broken the rules by dating a fellow member, his age-appropriate new lady-love Melly (Justine Clarke). Meanwhile George is pursuing some lucrative side hustles and Roz is slowly realising that her clients don’t seem to enjoy mediation as much as she does.
‘When a bomb scare at the office forces a relocation to the local community work hub run by an overzealous hub manager (Rhys Nicholson) Roz and Ray are both plunged into parallel personal crises. With the Gruber siblings unravelling around her, Helen is forced to step up and take charge, giving rise to an unexpected new chapter in the Gruber & Fisk story.’
The premiere episode of this season broke records in Australia, attracting three million viewers and becoming the all-time highest-rated episode of any non-kids show on the ABC.
It’s also been a hit globally. In 2021, Fisk won best comedy series at Series Mania in France, and last year made it to the top 10 on Netflix in 10 countries, including South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States.
When asked about the reception by international audiences, Kitty told ABC News last year: ‘When people message me from Canada or India or wherever it is around the world and say they’re loving Fisk, I think, “Oh my God, that’s fantastic”.’
She then attributed the show’s success to the characters and the relationships between them.
‘I guess the world is realistic and relatable. The characters in our show obviously exist the world over, even if they have a different accent or speak a different language.’
Fisk is streaming on ITVX.
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