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The Pin’s Alex Owen, Katy Wix and Lolly Adefope are among the cast in a superb series about a delusional wannabe auteur
Where there is sitcom, there is (usually) self-delusion: in the gap between self-image and reality, you’ll find Basil Fawlty, Del Boy, Alan Partridge – and now Alex Santini, the lead idiot of new web series Petrichor, which launched on Wednesday. The tale of a delusional wannabe auteur failing to get his inane short film off the ground, Will Farrell and Ben Rowse’s four-parter shows there’s life in the mockumentary yet, particularly when showcasing the talents of a veritable who’s who of creative British comedy.
The 15-minute episodes style themselves a behind-the-scenes “making of” offered exclusively to the film’s crowdfunders. But it’s soon clear that no movie will ever get made. Santini (played by one half of The Pin, Alex Owen) has a pretentious title, of which he is absurdly proud – but little else to go on. We watch as he appoints an underqualified producer, assembles (and proceeds to bemuse) a writers’ room, and lords it over a succession of auditionees. All the while throwing needy, David Brent-alike gazes at the camera, keener to promote himself than make the actual film.
