Christina Applegate shines in Netflix series Dead To Me

Dark humour comedies, or traumedies as they’re being called, are becoming increasingly popular on the small screen. The new Netflix 10-episode series Dead To Me, starring Christina Applegate, certainly fits into that category.

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Unless you’ve had your head in the sand these last few weeks, you’ll have heard all the chatter about Netflix’s latest hit, Dead To Me.

The newest vehicle for Christina Applegate in quite some time, the TV series follows the unlikely friendship that blooms between Jen Harding (Applegate) and Judy Hale (played by Linda Cardellini) after they meet at a grief support group.

Jen, a real estate agent and mother of two sons, is struggling with the sudden loss of her husband Ted. And Judy is seemingly suffering the loss of her fiance, Steve.

Christina Applegate in the Netflix series Dead To Me. Picture: Netflix

It’s difficult to reveal much more at the risk of giving away any of the twists that have made this 10-episode series such a winner.

The first comes at the end of episode one and you can expect them to keep coming, with the plot twisting and turning from episode to episode.

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The easily digestible episodes are less than 40 minutes each, making this a proper weekend binge for those who are committed to getting to the final ep in a hurry. And although Netflix only released it a few weeks ago, there is already unofficial talk it has been picked up for a second season.

Although it deals with the very serious issues of grief, widowhood, teen angst and death, one of the things that makes this series so popular is the well-timed barbs and clipped humour.

Dark humour comedies, or traumedies as they’re being called, are becoming increasingly popular on the small screen, in the same way that dark humour is dominating the stand-up comedy stage.

Judy (Linda Cardellini) and Jen (Christina Applegate) form an unlikely friendship in Dead To Me.

Dead To Me is the latest series filling the space left by those who have already had their fill of dark comedies like Weeds, Shameless, Santa Clarita Diet and Ricky Gervais’ After Life.

Another huge plus for the series is the on screen chemistry between Applegate and Cardellini that makes their friendship so believable and so devastating.

They are an unlikely pair — Jen is a hard-as-nails widow struggling to keep it all together, while Judy is a more carefree and free-spirited character — but they make you believe in the force of their friendship.

Applegate, who hasn’t been on a long-running series for many years, says she was challenged to show all sides of her character, the crippling grief alongside the laugh-out-loud humour.

“It’s not often that people ask me to go deep, where I have to go somewhere that is scary and also be funny,” she says.

“These characters are unravelling and it shows you how complex we all are.”