# Sick Note (2017)

> A misdiagnosed office worker discovers that a fake terminal illness brings him kindness he never had, until his incompetent doctor's error forces a choice.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/63058

## Facts

- Seasons: 2
- Episodes: 14
- Episode runtime: 25 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: comedy
- Created by: James Serafinowicz, Nat Saunders
- Network: Sky One
- Cast: Rupert Grint, Nick Frost, Pippa Bennett-Warner, Lindsay Lohan, Marama Corlett, Karl Theobald, Daniel Rigby, Belinda Stewart-Wilson
- TMDB rating: 6.8/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5770788/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: mild
- Complexity: simple
- Violence: none
- Tone: dark, awkward, cringe, bleak, warm, absurd

## What critics say

Audiences find the dark comedy premise and cast sharp in places but judge it mixed, with uneven writing and plot holes.

## Synopsis

Sick Note (2017-2018) is a British dark comedy created by James Serafinowicz and Nat Saunders for Sky One. Rupert Grint plays Daniel Glass, an ordinary office worker who is misdiagnosed with a fatal disease and discovers that the people around him suddenly treat him far better than before. Nick Frost plays Dr Ian Glennis, the wildly incompetent oncologist whose blunder sets the story in motion, while Pippa Bennett-Warner plays Becca Palmerstone and Lindsay Lohan appears as Katerina West in the second season. The engine of the show is Daniel's growing dilemma: he must either admit the mistake and return to his dull, unsatisfying life or keep up the pretense of illness while the lies pile up with friends, colleagues and family. Each episode is built around escalating social awkwardness and the small absurd complications of maintaining a fake diagnosis in a corporate office. The series runs for two seasons and fourteen episodes in a contemporary British setting, with a brisk, cringe-inflected tone that mixes bleakness with warmth. Its premise and sensibility will appeal to fans of The Office and other British workplace comedies with a darker edge, and it sits comfortably beside morally tangled comedies about ordinary people in over their heads.

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