London has had the Lena Dunham treatment. I’m relieved to say it’s a triumph | Barbara Speed

Once you get past the Mr Darcy fantasies, her new show Too Much is an affectionate sendup of the capital in all its variety and strangenessI have watched all six series of Girls at least four times. I watched it as it was castigated for its unlikable characters, lack of diversity, supposed misogyny and sex that wasn’t “fun” enough, and I’ve watched it during its recent gen Z-fuelled renaissance. I never thought Lena Dunham’s show was perfect, or a window on to all of humanity. But as an arch portrait of a handful of upper-middle-class twentysomething women in New York, thousands of miles away from my reality, I’ve always believed that it couldn’t be bettered.Then Dunham moved to London and released a new show, this time about … me? Too Much’s protagonists are thirtysomethings living in London: Jessica (played by Megan Stalter) moves over from New York after a breakup; her love interest Felix (Will Sharpe) is a Londoner jaded by years of struggling as a session guitarist. The stakes felt high. Not only could a show about my city by an American celebrity be unstoppably cringe, but it could call into question everything I loved about Girls.Barbara Speed is the deputy head of Guardian Opinion Continue reading...

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