Review of the comic's new Radio 4 series

Darren Harriott is no stranger to speaking about his father on stage, processing his suicide in prison at the age of 35 through his stand-up.

His new Radio 4 series Father Figuring, which delves much deeper into the topic, starts with such a routine, but with the comedian wondering if making jokes was ‘numbing myself to what had actually happened’.

And it seems like a family trait, given that his mother is very reluctant to talk about it.

Harriott describes his dad Patrick as a ‘Rastafarian drug dealer, drug addict who was in and out of prison for multiple crimes and had some severe mental health issues’. But when he interviews his mother Paulette in the opening episode, she appears reluctant to talk, either from being in denial or an overabundance of caution to protect Darren from the truth.

She does not acknowledge the schizophrenia induced by decades of smoking high-strength weed that so affected Patrick – claiming never to have noticed his mental health issues.

The fear of stigma clearly lies heavy on her mind,  exposing a stark generational difference. ‘I'm not going to talk ill of the dead,’ she says when his mental health is raised.

And when Darren tells her he’s in  therapy himself, the response is an instant ‘what for?’ As if his father Patrick taking his own life when the comic was just 11 was not reason enough. 

Paulette also denies all knowledge of Patrick’s ‘other life’ of crime and never let him or his older brother visit him in jail, leaving a huge gap in the comic’s knowledge of his dad.

Darren’s attempts to now piece together what manner of man his dad was does not meet with the approval of Paulette, who brought her kids up well but seemingly fears that any interest Darren shows in his father may lead him down the same path. 

In contrast, he pounces eagerly on every morsel of information he can glean, from the fact his parents once went to a  Shabba Ranks gig to the existence of a home video he had no knowledge of 

‘Just leave it, what's done is done,’ Paulette tells her son. ‘You're doing well at the moment all you need to do is move on because it can grind you down.’

‘I would rather you didn’t [try to find out more]. It's over 20 years. Leave it. Show him you're better than him. You've got a future…’

This is only the first 15-minute episode of five that together will interrogate what it means to be a dad more broadly, and address question whether Harriott wants to be a father himself, given the limited role model he had. 

It seems like an important topic, given how high men’s mental health sits on the national agenda. And the series has got off to a truly fascinating start, thanks to Harriott’s willingness to dig into some uncomfortable family truths with honesty – but wit as well.

• Darren Harriott: Father Figuring is on Radio 4 at 1.45pm every day this week, with all episodes on BBC Sounds now.

Review date: 10 Nov 2025
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett