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Who was Alan Carr before he was Alan Carr: Chatty Man and a national treasure? According to Carr’s autobiographical sitcom Changing Ends, the answer is: exactly the same – just with a penchant for shell suits and without the fame.
Last summer, this sentimental look at Carr’s childhood launched on streamer ITVX. Now, the comedy is being given the terrestrial debut it deserves. With sharp writing, and a captivating central performance, it’ll be a hit faster than you can say “ding dong”.
The real-life Carr, who co-wrote Changing Ends with the late Two Doors Down creator Simon Carlyle, serves as the show’s narrator. Carr is always on hand with a witty observation and knowing wink, joking that little Alan needed to learn to run as a child “before he could mince”. Some of Carr’s interjections are a little obvious – one comparing jeering, yelling football crowds to “being on Twitter” caused me to involuntarily roll my eyes. But his presence as a nostalgic omniscient narrator is there to enhance, not steal focus from, the real star of the show.
Oliver Savell, the young Belfast star portraying Alan aged 11, was a real feat of casting; in both looks and characterisation, from his gappy teeth to his gait, Savell embodies Carr entirely.
We’re transported back to the sepia haze of the comic’s childhood: Northampton, mid-1980s. For a boy who’s a bit different – or “half rice, half chips,” as neighbour Angela (Gabby Best) euphemistically speculates to his mother Christine (Nancy Sullivan) – it’s not exactly a tolerant environment.
As a camp kid in a homophobic society, young Alan is called every name under the sun: “bummer, goofy, goggle-eyes, gappy”. Alan, who is obsessed with Murder She Wrote, Dynasty and birdwatching, is largely oblivious. He easily makes friends with older women, from dinner ladies to his “fabulous flamboyant” drama teacher (a riotous Cariad Lloyd). Boys his own age? Not so much.
The real Carr being such a distinctive character, it would be easy for an actor to reduce him to a simple stereotype or hard-to-maintain impression. Yet Savell imbues his performance with a precocious nuance, bringing depth and tenderness to the role.
At home, Alan is flanked by protective mum Christine and stoic dad Graham (Shaun Dooley). Both parents desperately love their son, but worry about him in the outside world. Despite all evidence suggesting otherwise, Graham, the coach of the local fourth division team and a local celebrity-slash-hate figure, insists that football is in his son’s blood. “I was a footballer, your granddad was a footballer. You see what I’m trying to say to you, Alan?” Graham asks. “I’m adopted?” the pre-teen responds, flashing an awkward smile.
Christine and Graham’s own dramas run alongside Alan’s, creating a vivid world of bitchy neighbours and local sporting politics. The funniest moments in the script are between Christine and her bouffant-haired frenemy-next-door Angela, the two women practising military levels of passive aggression.
Book club feuds and collapsing football stadiums are the low-stakes, small-town battlegrounds faced by the adults. For Alan, it’s competitions in the local paper and skiving off school.
Yet Carr and Carlyle’s script is so tightly written and crammed with jokes that nobody could call Changing Ends twee. There’s Savell to thank for that, too. Less masterful child actors can push sitcoms into saccharine territory, but he keeps the show’s message on the right side of sweet.
‘Changing Ends’ is on ITV1 on Tuesdays at 8.30pm, the full series is available to stream on ITVX
