When Andy Davidson (Tom Price) doesn’t get his man, he does get a bruise, a bill to pay and some new friends. The residents of the pub whose fence Andy has very much broken welcome him with magnificently grumpy Cardiff aplomb. Kenn (Gareth Armstrong) is a cheery drunken widow. Mary (Lissa Berry) loves a man in uniform and isn’t that fussy about either the uniform or the man. And Nia (Zadeiah Campbell-Davies), the bar manager, has a theory. People are being turned into dogs, and vice versa. Is she right? Are she and Andy a thing? And what is yoga studio owner, neighbour and pub dislike Sandra (Leah Marks) prepared to do to ‘help’ the neighbourhood.

There is so much to enjoy here, and a vast amount of it is Price and Campbell-Davies’ double act. Campbell-Davies is a revelation; a Welsh dynamo who blows into the story and Andy’s life and carries it and him along with her. She’s the best scene partner Andy’s had since Gwen Cooper and the pair bounce off each other delightfully. There is clearly something between them but neither have any idea what it is and neither want to look it in the eyes and the benign conspiracy that they participate in is the best part of the story. Armstrong’s cheerfully venomous Kenn and Marks’ flamboyant Mary are a delight too.

Toby Hrycek-Robinson’s sound design is on point as always and the sense of place he, Stewart Pringle and Lauren Mooney evoke is delightful. I’ve been in this pub. So have you. The affection the script has for places like this is tangible, poignant and resonates with the central theme of gentrification here. Andy and Marks’ superbly pained Sandra both embody the new Cardiff and the pub and its inhabitants the old. Neither can exist in each other’s space and yet both try. That’s the dramatic engine of Andy and Nia’s relationship, Pringle and Mooney’s script and by far the best part of the story.

The problem arises with the ending. Pringle and Mooney make a deeply brave choice here and the final act explores the unique horror someone like Nia faces, a horror I find very familiar. Nia is a wickedly smart, deeply kind creative person trapped in a job that rewards none of those things but that she loves anyway. Her coping mechanisms are poignant, understandable and familiar. For five minutes or so, it feels like they’re the ending of the story here and it’s uncomfortable and brave and unique.

Then the story continues. The ending here is one of the rare missteps in this universally strong series. It aims for a sting but fails, presenting instead as a moment of ambiguous certainty that jumps for the familiar tone of the series but misses it. Perhaps, as other reviewers have said, a sequel is forthcoming. I’d love to hear one.

Verdict: What works here works brilliantly and Campbell-Davies is superb. But as it stands, this story doesn’t land at all despite a very strong opening. 6/10

Alasdair Stuart

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