“Dreamland” Review: Lily Allen and Sharon Horgan’s Collaboration Falls Short of Black Comedy Heaven

The anticipation was high for Sharon Horgan and Lilly Allen’s new comedy series, Dreamland. With two talented and humorous women at the helm, it seemed like a surefire hit. However, after watching the first few episodes, it’s hard not to feel a bit disappointed. While there are some moments of laughter, overall, the show falls short of delivering the side-splitting humor fans were hoping for. So what went wrong? Let’s take a closer look.


Dreamland is a new show produced by Sharon Horgan with Lily Allen playing the protagonist, Mel O’Sullivan. The series is adapted from a short film that Horgan wrote back in 2017 for Sky Arts. The show is set in the seaside resort town of Margate, where Mel returns after her career as an assistant to a model hits a speed bump. She is a little cloud of melancholy amidst the English sunshine, making her a sympathetic protagonist. However, the show becomes disjointed when she reconnects with her family.

The O’Sullivans, Mel’s family, are an eclectic bunch who belong to different comedy genres, and there is a sense that Horgan and writer Emma Jane Unsworth are trying to bind them all together. Mel’s eldest sister Trish is an expectant mother desperate for a daughter after two sons and several miscarriages. Her character belongs to the kitchen sink milieu, while Sheila Reid’s Nan drives around Margate in a pink car and seems to be Sky television’s answer to Mattress Mick.

The script lifts straight from Ricky Gervais’ Afterlife with the character of Clare, another O’Sullivan sister, and a reporter for the local newspaper, working on absurd local interest stories such as a giant rabbit with award-winning poo. Finally, there is Leila, the fourth of the sisters, and the hippy in the pack with a penchant for upcycling. Their mother Cheryl has embarked on a late-in-life lesbian relationship.

Bad Sisters, another show produced by Horgan, shows that the dynamic between four sisters can make for gripping, hilarious TV. However, Dreamland never coalesces into anything nearly as substantial, and its script orbits the blank spaces where the jokes are supposed to go. The show’s backdrop, Margate, is a nice place to pass a weekend but not good enough to tarry long, much like Dreamland.

As a songwriter, Allen is all about exposing the emotional welts and bruises of real life, while Horgan specialises in nettle-sharp dark humour. This match should have made for a melancholic laugh-fest for the ages, but Dreamland isn’t funny. The series becomes a dramedy with all the punch of a melted 99 splattered over the pavement.

Therefore, the combination of the two creators doesn’t seem to work, partly because Horgan is producing rather than writing the show. Dreamland has received mixed reviews from critics, with some calling it “a missed opportunity,” while others appreciate it for its depiction of dysfunctional families. Nonetheless, this show has not lived up to the viewers’ expectations and is not worth the hype it created.


In conclusion, while Dreamland may have promised to be a laugh-out-loud comedy, it unfortunately fell short of expectations. Sharon Horgan and Lily Allen are both talented individuals with a proven track record of delivering quality entertainment, but their collaboration in this particular project didn’t quite hit the mark. While there were some comedic moments scattered throughout the show, they were few and far between. Nevertheless, we can only hope that the talented duo will continue to innovate and surprise us with their future projects. Until then, let’s keep our fingers crossed for a more hilarious and memorable experience next time around.