Review of Jordan Gray's new ITV2 sitcom

Depending on which echo chamber you inhabit, trans people are usually portrayed as either noble victims or society-destroying predators. But some of them are just knobheads.

At least that’s Jordan Gray’s take. Liv, the central character she plays in new ITV2 sitcom Transaction is a self-centred, easily bored agent of chaos. Inherently lazy, she winds up working the night shift at the supermarket Pellocks as a diversity hire to quell protesters angry at a hate crime inadvertently committed by hapless boss Simon. 

That makes her unfireable – a premise she’s prepared to test to the limits by literally breaking every rule in the book. And it’s possibly the first time a sitcom takes time to explain just why its useless lead character is allowed to hold down a job.

With each episode running around 20 minutes, sans ads, this Workplace comedy packs its pacy storylines with plenty of gags, and from all sorts of angles. Slapstick humour is one, so Tom And Jerry-like that one character’s skeleton flashes visible when electrocuted. But it’s Tom And Jerry with dick jokes. 

Meanwhile, as Simon, Nick Frost has shades of David Brent in his awkwardness in trying too hard to be an ally to Liv, though he’s more sincere in his efforts to get things right than Ricky Gervais’s alter-ego ever was. However throwing out every phallic-shaped bit of fruit after Liv mischievously complains they offend her is perhaps a joke too strained, a rare misstep.

You can even add indie arthouse to the inspirations. There’s something slightly otherworldly about the supermarket’s night shift, emphasised by the scarcity of people and the 1970s-like brown colour palate. And director Ollie Parsons makes the protesters outside seem like a zombie horde.

In her scripts, Gray does a fine job at mixing all these disparate comedy styles into something that nonetheless feels like a coherent universe of its own and making the few oddball staff who roam the aisles after dark into a strange sort of alternate family, with all the tensions and unstated affection that entails.

It’s an obvious breakthrough for Gray – showing she’s more than just the outrageous cabaret entertainer who got her knob out on Friday Night Live. And Francesca Mills is also worthy of note as Millie, below,  bringing a sweet comic touch to the overly kind, eager-to-please shelf-stacker whose good nature is frequently exploited by Liv. 

That Liv is trans obviously gives this show a point of difference, as well as some storylines and gags that might be considered politically incorrect were a cis person to tell them. And playing cheekily across that line informs the script as much as it does Gray’s stand-up.

But many of the jokes don’t depend on this at all, just the fact Liv’s a troublemaking idiot. This isn’t box-ticking by any means, but a strong sitcom in its own right. 

Although silly jokes are to the fore, there are depths here, too, as it becomes increasingly clear that Liv’s lonely, and is grappling her way to some sort of relationships with her workmates the only way she knows how, by playing the fool. It’s a role she – and Gray – play so very well.

• Transaction is on ITVX now and airs on ITV2 at 10.05pm tonight

Review date: 24 Jun 2025
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