Break Clause (2026) is a pleasantly bumbling start to a rom-com sitcom (romsitcom?), starring Lara Ricote and Samuel Bottomley. With a couple more seasons, it could become a great show. It is light and sweet, and elicits fewer laughs than you would want in a comedy, but proves it’s got a lot of heart to share.
We follow Ben and Lil, recent Leeds University graduates and staple couple of their friendship group, as they move into a sought-after flat in London. But a crisis looms: having already signed the lease, on the day they move in together, Ben reveals to Lil that he cheated on her. How will they pick themselves up after such a shock? More importantly, how will they get out of the lease?
Break Clause has a lot of Gavin and Stacey-esque elements: a big loving British family, quirky side characters, and a high tolerance for sentimentality. Plus it’s got a few very exciting leads—straight off the back of California Schemin’ (2025) we have Bottomley, joined by stand-up comedian Ricote, Catherine Cohen, and SNL UK cast members Jack Shep and Hammed Animashaun.
But while Break Clause has crafted some promising side characters—the bizarre, undersocialised manager, an overfamiliar American neighbour, and the incompetent letting agent—it spends too much time consumed by the neuroses of its main characters. Sure, the director makes good use of Bottomley’s big, sad eyes, but I need a break and a laugh in what is, ostensibly, a sitcom. This is a show about love and its complications, and these side characters and their love lives would make perfect foils if given a little time.
One strong point was the time spent in Leeds. While much TV is restricted by the stifling surroundings of the capital, Ben and Lil’s departure from London is exactly that: a departure. Both Break Clause and Gavin and Stacey (2007) feel the aching pain of leaving a home city as an adult, and how it’s a central theme in our relationships, not a footnote.
Break Clause was a really lovely diversion for a few days’ worth of watching. All I can hope for is an even stronger season, and that Channel 4 is less rigid than its streamer counterparts, believing that Break Clause has the bones of a really good sitcom, because it really does. Set in the nightmarish world of the rental market amid the hopes and dreams of some early twentysomethings, with a simple yet broad premise—there’s a lot to go on from for an imaginative writer. Plus, it has a talented cast the likes of which Channel 4 should not take for granted. Blink, and they’ll move on to more lucrative shores.
Photo by Dina Badamshina on Unsplash.
