Best known for her role as Samantha Jones in HBO's "Sex and the City," Kim Cattrall will be returning to television. Cattrall is set to star and executive produce a Canadian adaptation of BBC's 2005 dark mid-life crisis comedy "Sensitive Skin," Deadline reports.
"Sensitive Skin," which aired for two seasons in the UK, follows the life of 61-year-old Davina Jackson (originally played by Joanna Lumley of "Absolutely Fabulous") and her slightly dysfunctional family, including a 30-year-old son stuck in adolesence and her sister and brother-in-law, whom she and her husband maintain a steady keeping-up-with-the-Joneses rivalry.
Landing the role of Davina marks a career win for Cattrall as well: she's been working on making a "Sensitive Skin" adaptation for four years, Deadline reported. Cattrall has had an interest in portraying real women in the later stages of their life since the last episode of "Sex and the City" aired in 2004.
"Do you know what it's like to be 54 and marginalized?" a peeved Cattrall asked a Page Six reporter in March. "It doesn't get easier as you get older."
Judging from the trailer and response to the original "Sensitive Skin," we hope Cattrall's version can portray the perks and personal indignities of aging with the same dark humor and wit. The show was green lit for six episodes; Cattrall's adaptation will air on Canada's The Movie Network and may air in the U.S. as well. If it pulls an American "The Office" and lasts longer than the two seasons it ran in the UK, they'll need more midlife crisis issues to script. Here are three midlife cliches we hope they avoid:
1. Davina's descent into cougar-dom. For once we'd like to see the entertainment world not rely on this modern-day conceit (no offense, Sam Jones). Post 50 women can be and are attracted to men their own age.
2. Hot flash shenanigans! We're all for physical comedy, and a well-executed pratfall can always get a laugh out of us. But a plot line revolving solely around played out "gotta go stick my head in a freezer" jokes is more likely to make us groan than LOL.
3. Al, Davina's husband, has an affair. We know gray divorce is on the rise, and we also know that no relationship is without temptation. But wouldn't it be interesting to see how a long-married couple deals with the transition from being weekday warriors focused on the kids to later-years partners?
(h/t Deadline)
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