A new six-part BBC1 comedy series delves into the murky and surprisingly common world of 'pseudocide' – the act of faking one's own death – weaving a darkly humorous tale from a premise rooted in real-life deceit.
The Shocking Reality Behind the Fiction
The practice of pseudocide is far more frequent than many realise. A stark example is the case of Sanjay Kumar, a 42-year-old businessman from Watford. In 2011, he travelled to Delhi, where his family reported he had died days later from 'brain fever'. His wife then filed a £1.1 million life insurance claim using forged documents, even transferring £10,000 to her supposedly deceased husband's account. Investigators eventually found Kumar alive and well, on a sightseeing trip. The story's tragic edge came from the couple having convinced their three teenage children their father was dead.
A Darkly Comic Twist on a Grim Theme
This real-world fraud forms the unsettling backdrop for Can You Keep A Secret?, created by Simon Mayhew-Archer. The series takes a decidedly darker turn than the average sitcom. It follows William Fendon (Mark Heap), a man with Parkinson's disease, whose accidental overdose on his 'Parky-pill' tranquillisers leads his wife, Debbie (Dawn French), to believe he has died.
Debbie, finding him comatose in front of the television, and their hypochondriac GP – who examines the 'body' in a hazmat suit – both assume the worst. A death certificate is issued, setting in motion an insurance fraud that begins by accident. To hide the truth, Debbie forces William to live in the attic, hiding him in a cupboard under the stairs when visitors call.
Character Depth and Personal Inspiration
The narrative reaches a particularly grim moment when Debbie allows her son, Harry (Craig Roberts), to grieve for months, only confessing after discovering he is on antidepressants. Her method of consolation is to show him a holdall stuffed with £20 notes – the entire insurance payout in cash.
Dawn French delivers a standout performance as the mercurial Debbie, self-centred one moment and big-hearted the next, a return to the eccentric character work she perfected in French and Saunders. The role's suitability is no coincidence; the series writer's father, Paul Mayhew-Archer, co-wrote French's hit show The Vicar of Dibley. Paul has been public about his own Parkinson's diagnosis, and his son Simon's script draws heavily on that experience, injecting authentic anger into storylines, such as the impossibility of getting through to an NHS GP even to report a man back from the dead.
A Comedy with Flaws but a Vital Voice
While the script occasionally relies on overly simplistic toilet humour and weak running gags, Can You Keep A Secret? succeeds as a comedy with a novel premise and a substantive point to make. It uses its absurd situation to critique healthcare bureaucracy and explore familial strain with a unique voice, making it a series that warrants attention.
