Every so often a piece of art is created that encapsulates the magic, tenderness, heartbreak, chaos and beauty of female friendships. Sometimes that’s a book (Everything I Know About Love, anyone?) or an album (looking at you, Lorde). This time, it’s a TV show, specifically Channel 4’s Big Mood. And – you guessed it –it’s a big, huge, colossal mood.

The series is written and created by playwright Camilla Whitehill, starring Nicola Coughlan (Derry Girls, Bridgerton) and Lydia West (It’s A Sin) as its leads. Whitehill has actually been friends with Coughlan since they met at drama school 15 years ago, and the pair have been wanting to work together on a project for a long time.

Maggie (Coughlan) and Eddie (West) live in Dalston, East London and are best friends. More than best friends, even, they are life partners and family. Some (me) might even go as far as to call them codependent.

The synopsis of Big Mood reads: “Maggie and Eddie have lived in each other’s pockets for ten years, through thick, thin, and multiple challenging eyebrow trends. But with the rest of their lives looming, careers hanging in the balance and Maggie’s bipolar disorder making an unwelcome return to form, Eddie begins to question whether this friendship is really in their best interests.”

Ths synopsis further notes that this is “a pivotal point in both their lives, bringing to the surface those all-important questions – could sleeping with your former History teacher be the key to happiness? Is a basement Rat Hotel a functional alternative to pest control? With their 20s behind them, Maggie and Eddie’s relationship faces the future – can it survive?”

Throughout the six-part series we see Eddie grapple with her own needs as she tries to be the ‘strong friend’, a role she has both cast herself in and been cast in. We see Maggie try to stay afloat as her bipolar disorder takes control and she can do very little but try to survive.

Eddie rarely asks for anything, and she is always the one supporting, organising and rescuing Maggie from a multitude of shenanigans. At first, this is a fun adventure; they are the yin to each other’s yang. Then the cracks begin to show, as mental illness intertwines itself into their friendship – Maggie becomes manic, depressed and has periods of memory loss. Eddie becomes frustrated after needing support (she loses the bar she runs and has to deal with an unplanned pregnancy) and not finding it in Maggie. The series ends with an open-ended friendship breakup, as Eddie steps into a cab and Maggie sobs on the pavement.

Big Mood is a painfully relatable show. The language Eddie and Maggie use could have been lifted directly from my personal WhatsApp chats: “If I could finally get a big Le Creuset things might turn around”, “Most perfect special angel girl”, and “I don’t have £800 in my bank account… that would be wild”. The most relatable part, however, is their friendship. And how I have been both an Eddie and a Maggie at different times in my life. I’m sure you have been, too.

Like Eddie, I have routinely been described as ‘independent’ and ‘strong’. Like Eddie, I have made outlandish statements like “I’m the only one who can take care of me” and “I don’t need anyone”. And, like Eddie, I have resented friendships where my needs were always secondary because the other person was in more of a ‘crisis’, and so I silently made myself a martyr.

Like Maggie, I have struggled with complex mental health which, at some stages, has taken over my life. Like Maggie, I have made outlandish statements like “I’ve got depression down to a fine art”. And, like Maggie, I have accidentally been selfish in friendships because survival mode temporarily took away some of my self-awareness.

While it’s clear that Maggie definitely fucks up more out of the pair, it’s not so much her actions but her dishonesty that really makes the friendship go off the rails. When Eddie asks her “I need help. I need you to help me, Maggie, is that OK?”, she should have said no and told her friend about the memory loss and hallucinations.

The truth is that mental health can detrimentally affect the relationships in our lives. That feels like saying the quiet bit out loud, but it’s a reality we should not shy away from. If we won’t admit this to ourselves, how can we learn the tools to manage? How can we avoid our mental health ending friendships? How can we not ‘do’ a Maggie? People are not required to love you at your worst, despite what Marilyn Monroe may have said. Friendship is conditional, not unconditional, and your friends are allowed boundaries and limits. Just as you are.

However, this is not a show of absolutes or moral judgements. We are meant to sympathise and dislike both Eddie and Maggie at different times, because neither of them is ‘perfect’ at friendship. None of us are.

Art that reflects the powerful friendships between women has become mainstream in the last decade, and rightfully so – they are instrumental in society and deserve to be platformed. However, oftentimes only the joyful elements are portrayed, which can leave women feeling like they’re doing something wrong. Friendships are a relationship, and those will always be messy and require navigation. Big Mood is the finest representation of this truth that I have ever seen. Let’s hope we get a second season.

Images: Channel 4