Sally4Ever is a 2018 British comedy series in seven episodes created by and starring Julia Davis. It is co-produced by HBO and Sky Atlantic.
For ten years, Sally (Catherine Shepherd) has lived an extremely dull suburban life with David (Alex Macqueen). But on the night he makes his proposal to her, she has a crisis and embarks on a wild lesbian affair with Emma (Julia Davis), a seductive, charismatic and boho actress and singer. But Emma proves to be quite manipulative and soon sends Sally's life spiralling out of control.
Sally4Ever provides examples of:
- As Himself:
- Lena Headey appears as herself in episode 4, playing a baker in the film Dan directs. Emma ruins the scene she's filming by improvising stupid Funny Background Event choregraphies Dan didn't ask for.
- Sally bumps into Sean Bean himself at the Scottish castle in episode 7. He's married to a woman who looks like she's in her 90s. Sally thinks she's his mother at first.
- Blatant Lies:
- Everything Sally tells to David upon waking up after the wild party night she had with Emma.
- Emma tells some pretty bad lies, and somehow people trust them.
- Book Ends: Sally says "I don't think I like you very much" to David in the first episode, then she eventually says exactly the same thing to Emma in the last.
- Consummate Liar: Emma is a mythomaniac through and through. She often lies about her career in either music or acting, making it look bigger than it actually is. For instance, she goes as far as telling Dan that Stanley Kubrick was her hidden father and that he used to lock her mother in a basement and rape her, or lies about being coked to Sally, telling her that Dan forced her to inhale the drug and practically raped her while in reality she brought the coke and seduced Dan.
- Cringe Comedy: In spades. The comedy comes more from the awkwardness of some characters, Sally's impossibly dull persona and life, and embarrassing situations than jokes or slapstick.
- Cure Your Gays: Homosexuality is a disease for Sally's mother.
- Dating What Mommy Hates: Grown up version with Sally. Her mother hates lesbians.
- Everything Sounds Sexier in French: Emma claims she is half-French, and drops some French phrases sometimes. The most blatant for the trope being "Embrasse-moi!" ("Kiss me!"), or saying "OUI!" ("YES!") when having sex.
- From Bad to Worse: Sally's relationship with the measly, boring and gross David was pretty awful, but the toxic and narcissistic Emma is even worse.
- Gasshole: Alan (Sally's father) and Deborah (Sally's boss) have flatulence problems.
- Hand Signals: David's mother has the shock of her life when she sees Emma and Sally naked and scissoring in her own house. So much so that she's left speechless and only able to communicate through gestures afterwards.
- Inelegant Blubbering: The way David cries after his father's death is pretty ridiculous, and one wonders if he doesn't force the thing so Sally will take pity on him and stay with him.
- Interrupted Intimacy: When they are at David's mother's home, Sally and Emma have sex in the room she gave them... and, of course, she sees them, and, being extremely prudish and seeing it involves her would-be daughter-in-law, gets the shock of her life.
- Manipulative Bitch: Emma manipulates any person she wants to obtain something from (Sally above all). The Tag Line of the series says "She'll do anything to get who she wants", after all.
- Obfuscating Disability: It turns out Eleanor (Sally's jerkass colleague) has been faking the paralysis of her legs to improve her chances of getting employed, as she miraculously runs with both of them when the hotel's fire alarm rings.
- Out with a Bang: Dan talks about a threesome he had once, with two women, one of whom was old and died in the action.
- Overcrank: Slow motion is used when Sally and Emma have sex for the first time.
- Psycho Lesbian: Emma reveals herself as a Consummate Liar and narcissistic pervert who poisons Sally's life.
- Romantic Rain: Sally and Emma kiss under the rain towards the end of the first episode.
- Screaming Birth: Emma, when giving birth to her baby.
- Self-Harm: In the final episode, Emma hurts herself and tries to accuse Nigel of having done this in a last ditch effort to regain Sally's affection. Sally doesn't buy it.
- Teeny Weenie: David, although Sally insists it's not the reason she's frigid with him.
- Title Drop: The song Emma sings, "Sally Forever", in episode 7.
- Toilet Humour:
- Dan is a scatophiliac, as the (particularly gruesome) last scene of episode 4 shows.
- Eleanor is drunk and pees on a lawn while wearing just a bathrobe.
- Vomit Indiscretion Shot: Quite a few, and perhaps the worst ones in episode 7, with Sally getting vomited on by Emma, and the two of them sleeping in a bed full of it.
