Nicola Coughlan and Lydia West are bringing a more empathetic and comedic look at the seriousness of mental health in Tubi’s newest series and latest acquisition from the UK, Big Mood.

Blavity/Shadow and Act Managing Editor Trey Mangum spoke with Coughlan and West, who said that the series–showcasing a friendship pushed to the max due to mental illness–finds the comedy in the darkness.

“I think that, you know, it’s a show that’s so brilliantly written, and Camilla [Whitehill], who created it… I think she makes a really good point when she says that, like, sometimes the best way to deal with really serious things is through a lens, like a humorous lens, basically,” said Coughlan. “I think it’s…really. the reality of what it can be like to be mentally ill to like, you know, that you can still make jokes even in your darkest, darkest moments.”

West agreed, saying that the show makes it much easier to understand how mental illnesses can affect people without demonizing them. She said that mental illnesses, such as bipolar disorder, haven’t been portrayed in this way before.

“It makes it very understandable and easily digestible for an audience, just a bit more palatable by being funny,” she said. “I prefer to watch something that’s about something serious. In this way, because it just allows me some light relief, really.”

“I think [mental illness] is heavy and it is dark, but having that light relief just makes you understand it more because it’s more human, I think. And it’s just so important, I think,” West continued. “…In the show, there is a character who is suffering from schizophrenia and they say something really interesting about how it just happens. Usually schizophrenics are portrayed in the media as being murderers or in institutions, but that’s actually not real. And it’s not always the case. People with mental illness live very functional lives. And the exploration of anti-psychotic drugs and bipolar disorder in this show…shines such a, a light on, I think, a topic that is so hard to understand unless you have, unless you’ve been through it. So, I think this is what this show does so well and lacing it in comedy makes it just really digestible for people.”

Watch the full interview below. Big Mood is streaming now.

Big Mood

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