Rom com relief

If rock stars and comics can do it, then why not writers of romantic comedies? The Comic Relief dynamo Richard Curtis’s latest contribution to the “war on poverty”, The Girl in the Café, comes complete with witty dialogue and a charming pas de deux from Bill Nighy and Kelly Macdonald. Rom-com Relief has arrived.

Yet Curtis is playing with fire. Watching childhood heroes churn out greatest hits or classic sketches for the starving is one thing. Building a coherent attack on the complacency of the G8 leaders in the face of chronic hunger and disease, into an improbable romance between a shy British treasury official and a beautiful enigmatic young woman he meets in a greasy spoon, is another matter altogether.

If there is one thing that the Great British public hate, it’s being preached at. Unless it’s by a preacher of some description in a place of worship, of course, but even then most people would just as soon do without it, thank you very much. When it’s an issue-based television drama, you can almost hear the nation bridling on their sofas. Words such as “didactic” and “politically correct” pop up like angry zits.