TV Shows we love: Girls5eva

Remember the Spice Girls? I was in sixth form when Girl Power swept the world. But it somehow bypassed Winchester; we were serious students, not Wannabes; if you wanted to be my lover, you had to have read the Russian classics in the original.

Ha! How pretentious! Looking back, it would have probably done me a power of good to slap on some pink plastic and head down the pub. It’s taken me a good three decades to discover that what I want (what I really, really, really want) is to have some occasional fun. But now, like the stars of Girls5Eva, I’m in my 40s and wondering if it’s too late…

Very much based on the Spice Girls, Girls5Eva tells the story of what happened to the fictional stars of the titular band when the fame died. Once the hot girl group of the 90s, their popularity took a serious hit on the launch of their second album (a cringe-worthy flashback to its release on September 10, 2001 explains the group’s instant crash and burn!). Since then, the stars have led very different lives. But a chance encounter has the four remaining ladies (one apparently took a few too many uppers and swam over the edge of a cliff-top infinity pool) navigating an ill-advised reunion…

It’s this that makes the show so very watchable for anyone in their 40s. Even if you didn’t worship the Spice Girls way back when, you can still connect with the inescapable trials of middle-age: heartbreak, creaky knees and crippling anxiety come to us all, regardless of past triumphs. And you’ll identify with the women as they look back on former glories and ask themselves ‘Seriously, why on earth did we wear/sing/do that?’

Produced by Tina Fey (Saturday Night Live, 30 Rock, Mean Girls) and starring a brilliant ensemble of actors, singers and stand-ups, this new-to-Netflix show is a hilarious depiction of Life After Fame. Plus, if you grew up in the 90s, it will be a Resurrection of your Youth – because even if you preferred Tolstoy in your teens, there will always be room to Spice Up Your Life.