Only the granite-hearted will fail to be moved by new romcom Break Clause
Only the granite-hearted will fail to be moved by new romcom Break Clause
Benji WilsonThu, October 1, 2026 at 9:31 PM UTC
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Lara Ricote and Samuel Bottomley star in Channel 4’s modern take on the romcom - Vishal Sharma/Channel 4
Break Clause, a new six-parter on Channel 4, looks like a very modern take on romcom but turns out to be resolutely traditional.
Ben and Lil (Samuel Bottomley and Lara Ricote), a couple throughout their time at university in Leeds, move down to London together and rent a flat. Unfortunately, on the same day they get the keys a drunken indiscretion emerges and this delightful duo suddenly split up. Now, they’ve got to survive six months living cheek by jowl before they can exit the lease and get on with their lives.
As such, the terms of engagement for viewers are clear: this is a story of star-crossed lovers who were meant to be together, peppered with events, circumstances and interlopers that stop them doing so. These circumstances include Lil’s new job as an architect, where she is surrounded by potential suitors in chore jackets, Ben’s attempts to be a writer while not actually writing anything (instead he enrols on a drug trial, which, on this evidence, is not the best way to summon the muse) and a series of set pieces such as catastrophic dinner parties and painful christenings where we watch Ben and Lil bungle and self-sabotage.
Saturday Night Live’s Jack Shep plays Liam - Vishal Sharma/Channel 4
Commentary is provided by a Greek chorus of uni friends (including Saturday Night Live UK’s breakout star Jack Shep), family (John Thomson) and light relief by the standard sitcom assortment of insufferable neighbours (Catherine Cohen as Jos, who instantly condemns herself as “a bit of a prankster”) and alternative, but obviously inferior love interests (Rooster’s Charly Clive as another neighbour who has her eye on Ben).
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The key to a good romcom is in the title: you need a workable rom allied to some decent com. Break Clause has both: the central romance between Lil and Ben is entirely credible, which is down to excellent work from writer Jess Bray as well as Bottomley and Ricote in the leads. Only the granite-hearted won’t really, really, want Lil to get back with Ben and restore what is evidently the natural order of things.
As for the com? Break Clause has that nailed down too. It is very funny throughout, tempering Lil’s verbal diarrhoea with Ben’s reticence and shame to excellent effect. Although it is a young person’s story, which Channel 4 would doubtless like to appeal to a young audience, Bray’s humour is for everyone; she crafts jokes as well as she crafts character. And she’s not above going for the easy laugh if it’s funny, such as someone being a horrendously bad singer.
Light relief is provided by the ensemble of uni friends, family, insufferable neighbours and alternative love interests - Kerry Spicer/Channel 4
It all means that while it’s fairly obvious which way Break Clause is going, you will still want to stay for the ride. It’s much harder, I suspect, to write a plausible modern love story than it is to write a whoopsie-daisy farce – but it’s harder still to combine the two. Break Clause tees itself up for another series and it deserves to get one.
Break Clause is on channel4.com
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
