Following the impact of the pandemic and lockdown on seven people’s relationships, this was unexpected and charming
Truly there are such things as Christmas miracles. First the vaccine (and the second dose being given to a William Shakespeare and prompting the image of Americans across their nation punching the air and crying: “We knew it! England is Four Weddings and a Downton Abbey full of bards!”). And now The Year That Changed Love (Channel 4) – a programme following the impact of the global pandemic and countrywide lockdown on a group of people and their relationships – somehow ending up as one of the warmest, most uplifting hours of television we have had this year. There should almost have been a warning at the beginning, so we could have braced ourselves. Warning: may cause overload in underused synapses in the pleasure centres of your brain. Please do not panic. What you are feeling is “happiness” and it is safe to enjoy. It will pass soon enough.
So then to our subjects, whom we find in varying stages of love, coupledom, singledom and searching in the early March of 2020. The first two are Jade and Claire, in Edinburgh, who have had one date (and a boob pic) a week before lockdown and decide to isolate together in Jade’s flat. Early footage from Claire’s phone shows them in face masks, petting the dog, watching Aladdin and eating steak, and always laughing. I love them. They have an understanding that if they have a big falling out, Jade will just take Claire home, whatever the lockdown rules say, and for this I love them even more.
