Avoidance (TV series)

Avoidance is a British comedy drama television series made for BBC One starring Romesh Ranganathan, Lisa McGrillis, Mandeep Dhillon, Jessica Knappett and Kieran Logendra. The first series was broadcast in 10 June 2022. A second series was commissioned in May 2023; which broadcast from 5 April 2024.

Plot
Thrown out by his partner Claire, Jonathan is so desperate to avoid difficult conversations, that rather than telling his son that his mum and dad are splitting up, he takes the young Spencer to hide out with his sister Danielle and her wife Courtney.

Cast

 * Romesh Ranganathan as Jonathan
 * Lisa McGrillis as Courtney
 * Jessica Knappett as Claire
 * Mandeep Dhillon as Danielle
 * Kieran Logendra as Spencer
 * Matthew Lewis as Brett (series 2)
 * Aisling Bea as Megan (series 2)

Production
The project was announced by the BBC in January 2022, with Benjamin Green and Romesh Ranganathan as show creators, Green as director, and McGrillis and Knappett as co-stars. Some filming took place in Bracknell, and Berkhamsted.

A second series was commissioned by the BBC in May 2023. Filming on a second series took place in November 2023, with Aisling Bea and Matthew Lewis having joined the cast.

Broadcast
Episode one aired on BBC One and BBC iPlayer at 9:30 pm on Friday 10 June 2022.

Reception
Lucy Mangan in The Guardian described a "gentle, truthful, beautifully performed comedy about the ultimate beta male". The Daily Telegraph labelled the show a "sad-com bore" with Marianka Swain saying "I think we're supposed to sympathise with Jonathan, who may have some underlying mental health issues... But in the two episodes that I've seen, he's essentially a black hole of denial and failure sucking in everyone around him."