A daffy couple with a secret
Dear Watchers,If you are a fan of zany British comedy, you’re probably acquainted with the actress and comedian Dawn French. While she has never had a true U.S. breakthrough, she is regarded as a national treasure in her home country largely because of two series: the sketch show “French and Saunders” and the sitcom “The Vicar of Dibley.” Now she returns with another highly amusing, patently absurd series, “Can You Keep a Secret?,” which has its U.S. premiere on Thursday with all six episodes, on Paramount+. Created by Simon Mayhew-Archer, ”Can You Keep a Secret?” stars French as Debbie Fendon, a grandmother in a quiet village who is hiding something big. (Mayhew-Archer’s father, Paul, created “Dibley” with Richard Curtis, best known for rom-coms like “Love Actually.”) The secret of the title is revealed early in the first episode. As Debbie doles out her dead husband’s life insurance money to their bereaved son, Harry (Craig Roberts), she decides to come clean: Her husband, William (Mark Heap), is still very much alive. Debbie is pretending she has been widowed in order to collect the cash. The Fendons stumble into this fraud in absurd fashion. One night, William, who has Parkinson’s, accidentally takes too many pills and knocks himself out. Debbie panics and calls the town doctor, a germophobe who declares William dead without getting too close. When the Fendons realize they can get rich off this mistake, they decide to keep up the ruse; William rarely left the house anyway. But things become complicated when their son gets involved because his wife (Mandip Gill) is a local policewoman. The Fendons’ daftness drives much of the comedy. Debbie and William are blithely unaware of the riskiness of their stunt. William imagines himself to be a master of disguise, wearing all sorts of funny hats. Debbie is brashly self-confident and more or less does whatever she wants — to the dismay of her son, whom she regards as a neurotic worrywart. When the couple start receiving mysterious blackmail notes, they become chaotic investigators, and their antics get even sillier. “Can You Keep a Secret?” includes mild social commentary about William’s shoddy treatment by the National Health Service. But mostly it aims to be a goofy good time with a morbid twist. Also this week
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