How Europe Stole My Mum

‘I’d rather be dead in a ditch.’

(Boris Johnson on being asked on delaying Brexit)


It seemed this week really would be the week when Britain left the EU. In the circus of Brexit, Boris went from extra to actor-director, re-cast from clown to strongman, ready to achieve what Mrs May couldn’t and be the muscle of Brussels. If the EU would not acquiesce, he would leave the tent with No Deal. Broadcasters obviously thought Johnson meant business as this week two comedies were aired to commemorate our EU exit. The first was Little Brexit, a Walliams and Lucas reunion of their hit comedy Little Britain. Originally played on Radio 4, the pair returned home with half an hour of sketches all centred around Brexit. There was the Prime Minister’s aide, modelled on Peter Mandelson, unhappy that BoJo was now PM (I won’t go near your backstop) and the vomiting Home Counties lady disgusted to discover the background of her donor (a Remainer). The sketches were so-so, but they did hit the nail on the head when they had Vicky Pollard describing Boris' ‘yeah-but-no-but’ position on the Union. Ultimately though it wasn’t the old guard who had the funniest comedy show this week on the topic, but a youngster in the form of Kieran Hodgson.

It was ok.

Hodgson has been gaining traction over the last few years for his Edinburgh shows. As a character comedian, he’s versatile with act-outs and impressions, able to inhabit different guises successfully. What marks him out though is that he has a through-line to these sketches. There’s been autobiographical shows about his adolescent love for Lance Armstrong, as well as an hour called Maestro, centred around Gustav Mahler. In oscillating between playing himself, his friends, his family and historical characters, the comedy is exciting and kaleidoscopic; the effect dizzying.


Last year Hodgson turned his attention to Brexit in ’75. Following a falling out with his mother over the referendum result, Kieran sought to investigate where these fault lines first appeared. His journey took him right back to 1963 when Harold Macmillan first made overtures to France about being part of the European project. This fluttering of eye lashes went unconsummated for a decade. It wasn't until 1975 when Britain finally clinched entry into the Common Market, allowing PM Harold Wilson to enjoy a post-coital pipe.

Harold Wilson.

Essentially, Channel 4 have seen the potential in this Edinburgh show and allowed the talented comedian to transpose it onto TV. It begins with a background into the mother-son relationship. Hodgson builds up the affinity the pair have for one another. Her pride in seeing her child praised for his impressions; how his Tony Blair is even better than Rory Bremner’s. She loves his precocious ways. Ultimately, she is proud to mother the esoteric nerd. However, when Kieran comes over in a mope, decrying the travesty of Brexit, the two are pulled apart when she reveals she voted the other way. Thus, begins Hodgson’s odyssey to find out why his mum voted the way she did.


The ‘celebrity journey’ format is parodied by Hodgson. He breaks the fourth wall, pinching his luck that he got Liza Tarbuck to play his mum and an attractive actor his husband. There’s also a touch of Charlie Brooker's Cunk in the way characters are named: for Charles de Gaule, it’s Charles de Gaule Airport; and for Georges Pompidou, it’s Pompidou Centre. This impudent approach to documentary means the programme never feels dry or stale.

Kieran Hodgson

For all the cheekiness though, I learnt an awful lot. I had no idea that the Tory, Edward Heath was the biggest champion of Europe. Nor did I know that Tony Benn was dead against joining the European Common Market. Interestingly, Enoch ‘Rivers of Blood speech’ Powell and Benn were bedfellows on the subject. It makes you appreciate that Labour were once a party of Eurosceptics, whilst the Conservatives were the first to see Europe's potential. All of the wrangles and tangles are expertly played out by Hodgson and Enfield, transmogrifying into these political animals. 


So in a week where Little Britain returned for the nostalgists, it was the young liberal who got my vote.


How Europe Stole My Mum is available on All4