Romesh Ranganathan and Katherine Ryan star in this fast-paced thriller comedy

Romantic trip
★★★1/2
binge drinking

British comedian Romesh Ranganathan has been ubiquitous in recent years and seems to be a staple of every UK panel show (and we know how many of them there are). But now he’s bringing his slightly grumpy, deadpan demeanor to more acting roles. He wrote and starred in 2018 with longtime collaborator, screenwriter-director Benjamin Green and their indie production company Ranga Bee The Reluctant landlordthe “sad come” avoidanceand now Romantic tripco-written by the couple.

Romesh Ranganathan as Deacon and Katherine Ryan as Allison in Romantic trip.

Alongside UK-based Canadian comedian Katherine Ryan (who created and starred in the 2020 semi-biographical comedy). duchess), comedian Johnny Vegas and Harrie Hayes (a longtime Terrible stories Actor), Romantic trip is much happier than avoidance. It’s also a more straightforward comedy, albeit one wrapped in a thriller rom-com.

The first episode throws us straight into a frantic heist situation – but rather than a flashy Hollywood-style caper, this one happens at a medium-sized property firm in regional Britain. Deacon (Ranganathan) and his wife Allison (Ryan) have been trying to have a baby but are having fertility issues — and financial ones.

After a miscarriage, the couple were told their chances of having a baby are slim, even with medical intervention, but are determined to give it one last try. The problem is that her latest attempt means hiring the services of a high-end fertility clinic, and neither of her jobs — they both work at the aforementioned real estate company — pay very well.

Spurred on by the injustice that such fertility treatment is only an option for the wealthy, and the fact that their seedy real estate developer Alfie (Johnny Vegas) is siphoning money from the company’s profits, they hatch a plan to steal £100,000 worth of bitcoin 50,000 from Alfie. Certainly, they argue, he will not miss that amount. While distracting everyone at the office with an overbooked meeting room, Allison is able to figure out the password for the company’s accounts while Deacon is at a nearby internet cafe with a USB stick.

Everything is going according to plan – except Deacon panics when he sees the balance in the account is much higher than expected and Alfie, who has informed the couple that he doesn’t have enough money to pay their bonuses, quickly adding an extra zero to the amount he withdraws.

He doesn’t tell Allison right away, however, and the lies slowly begin to pile up; especially when Alfie reveals the company is under investigation and he needs Deacon to take his laptop for forensic inspection.