A Love Letter to Car Share
Dear Peter, Sian, Paul, Tim and Gill,
Forgive the informal use of first names, but starting a love letter with “Dear messrs” seems wrong somehow.
As the nation revels in the cloud of magnificence that is the Car Share Finale, and you are basking in the glow of its reception, I wanted to add my voice in the mass of gratitude and adulation. If you will please allow me one last (well, maybe) gushing, effusive text.
I just want to say, what many others have said before me, and that is that Car Share is simply magical. There is no better word I can think of that truly encapsulates what the show is, and has become to millions of viewers. From start to finish the show is not just beautifully crafted in every single way, it also has that special SOMETHING that takes it above a standard sitcom; something that gives it a warmth and delight that the audience can’t help but be drawn to.
I know as a viewer that what makes the difference between a good and bad show (or a good or great show) is often something very ephemeral, impossible to put your finger on (or replicate) - and to a degree that is true for Car Share. But I can certainly try to explain what elements I think contributed to making this feel good show have the staggered impact that it has had on so many of us.
Like many others, I fell under Car Share’s spell from the word go, when I experienced my first “stay up all night” (well 3 hours) compulsive binge watch. And to date the show is the only time I’ve ever experienced the TV equivalent of chain smoking - by finishing the series and IMMEDIATELY wanting to go back to the start again. And I know I’m not alone, I’ve seen hundreds of people on social media say exactly the same. Car Share created a world so joyous and life-affirming that you just don’t want to be ripped away from it and forced to go back to the harsh realities of life.
The show was like a wonderful warm gift that we didn’t know we were missing in our lives. To quote Mr John Redmond “I never knew I needed someone like you, to take the grey away and turn my skies blue. You changed my world to colour, turned off the black and white.”
John and Kayleigh’s world, in that little red and white Fiat, is one that we all want to stay in. It is a world of nostalgia, singing along to your favourite songs, laughing at shared jokes and the absurdities of life with someone who magnifies all those little wonders in life into full technicolor. The summer setting gives the show the glorious feel of summer love. It’s the TV equivalent of toes sunk in warm sand, sun tingled skin, holding hands and kissing under funfair lights as the sun goes down.
For the viewers it felt that as we watched John and Kayleigh fall in love, we too felt the flush of love as we fell headlong into their lives and hearts. We were given the gift of two sweet, kind, funny people who had reached a point where life had left them on the shelf with a “whoops” sticker - a little damaged round the edges, but still good.
John, care-worn and wary, staid and scared, only feeling safe enough to flirt with strangers in cars he knows he’ll never talk to rather than even contemplate a relationship with the woman asleep in his car. We fall in love with John the everyman who is twenty years deep in a job he never intended to do, feeling unfulfilled and unappreciated in a family that overlooks him and a world that seems to be passing him by. A man who has retreated into a safe box rather than risk disappointment and hurt, yet who reveals chinks in his armour when his frustrated rock-star side-line reveals a man of passion and love just waiting for the right stage to shine.
And then we have Kayleigh - and let’s not lie, there isn’t a viewer out there who isn’t in love with Kayleigh. Ditzy and impulsive, with her heart not even on her sleeve but held out beating in her open hand. A girl that lights up every party, who is finding that the conga-line is chugging on without her as her friends and family move on with lives of their own while she’s stuck in one place with her party feet and bag for life. A woman who just wants to be able to direct the tsunami of love she has inside her onto one man, who will love her back and give her the children and family life she so craves.
All we wanted was for this pair of average Joes to find that special person in their lives, or more correctly, for them to realise that person is right next to them. With each hilarious situation they find themselves in, the layers on them are pulled back and revealed to us the viewers and to each other, as step by step we see how perfectly they complete each other.
From the very first episode we see they connect fundamentally as people with a shared sense of humour - an instant connection that is so powerful it overcomes the humiliation of being covered in piss.
Each episode is a hop, skip and jump onto the next stepping stool in their growing relationship. By episode 3 they become a team against Stink Ray, we see each of them defend the other to this interloper, and most significantly, we are given explicit proof of something we all suspected - John’s insistence that he is happy alone is a lie, or self-denial or some combination of both, as we see he truly is yearning to get what he wants.
Once we see through John’s facade, everything slots into place as piece by piece the puzzle fits together to show two people slowly finding themselves isolated by loss and the progress of others around them, and ready to move on and be the star of their own lives for a change. And lest we forget, this is a comedy. All this heart and emotion is revealed through dogging and drunkenness, and overheard phone calls and prat falls. And it is a testament to the writing, that this comedy that surrounds every scene means we are distracted and the relationship evolves almost without us noticing. That is, perhaps until the Rachel issue arises and shows us that something somewhere has shifted, with Kayleigh’s jealousy at another woman’s interest in John is clear as the windscreen of the car.
By the final episode of season 1, the writing’s on the wall. John and Kayleigh have found love “sitting on their arse”, yet are terrified to reach out and grab the thing they most want. In the most beautifully awkward scene, as they prepare to end their car sharing days they exchange hugely telling gifts, the air heavy with unspoken words. Words that instead are sung by Extreme, as the lyric “just by saying I love you” from their song More Than Words fills the gap that John and Kayleigh leave with their unexpressed emotions.
And this scene is a prime example of what Car Share does most brilliantly of all - have the entire show underscored by the most perfect soundtrack. In most fandoms, the fans spend a lot of time finding songs to fit with their couple to use in music videos and gifsets and inspiring fanfiction. With Car Share, all the music is there, hand picked by those who create the characters. Every single song is perfectly placed as lyrics act as the interior monologue or hidden desires of John and Kayleigh. From “who’s gonna drive you home, tonight?” from Drive playing while Kayleigh reveals she’s moving and John won’t be able to pick her up, to “Can’t you feel the weight of my stare?” from Crazy For You being sung by Kayleigh to the back of John’s head - every song drives forward the narrative and illuminates exactly what’s going on instead their heads and hearts.
It echoes the soundtrack we create in our own lives, the songs that are forever linked with rejection, and love, and happiness. So the songs are vitally important as John and Kayleigh are stumbling closer together, their love and insecurities splashed across the soundtrack to season 2 from One Step Further to Red Light. And each one just gives the scenes greater depth of joy and pain when we see John and Kayleigh oh so nearly cross the line time after time.
In a way it feels like a modern day fairytale - a tale of ordinary folk with uninspiring lives who find something magical fall into their lives and transform it. In this case the magic is love, and their carriage is a Fiat 500 rather than a transformed pumpkin.
And while I can wax lyrical about the writing and crafting of John and Kayleigh’s world ad nauseum, it cannot be understated how much Peter and Sian’s performance of this loveable pair is significant to its success, and perhaps most likely where that fairydust sprinkling of magic comes from.
Even calling it a “performance” seems insulting, so realistic is the portrayal of John and Kayleigh. They are fully fleshed people, not characters, and the natural exchanges they have make them feel like we truly are eavesdropping on their lives.
I honestly don’t even have the words to in any way capture the chemistry that Peter and Sian have. Their real, decades old, friendship imbues every scene with so much warmth and sparkle, you can practically feel the static. There are times when John and Kayleigh’s eyes meet and it feels almost voyeuristic to be looking at them, such is the depth of emotion that can be seen beaming out of them. The almost kiss scene in 2x02 stands out as one of the most heart-achingly gorgeous piece of acting I’ve ever seen in a comedy, with so much said and unsaid in the looks between John and Kayleigh as they prod the edges of their relationship - before the horrifically timed interruption by Elsie.
While obviously this show was an evolving creation that owes something to each member of the creative team - and without wishing to diminish anyone’s contribution - I have to single out Peter’s contribution for one big reason: Sian Gibson. I, personally, and I know most viewers owe Peter the debt of a lifetime for fighting the corner to give us Sian as Kayleigh. Every article I have ever seen on the show singles Sian out, and it’s so obvious why. She is an utter gift as Kayleigh, wide-eyed, squeaking and utterly disarming in charm and earnestness. And possibly the most gorgeous smile on the plant.
From what I have seen of the process of developing the show, it seems Peter truly shaped Car Share into what it is, giving us the dream sequences and focus on music, as well as stunning episodic direction. Thus he is utterly deserving of his name on the title and I, personally can’t thank him, or any of you folks who made this show what it is, enough.
I have to say that I have been in online fandoms for over 22 years, and NEVER in all that time have I seen a public and fan reaction to a show that matched Car Share. I have never seen so many people say they can’t get it out of their heads, they can’t stop watching, that no matter how down they feel, they can put an episode of Car Share on and feel the world is a better place.
And I have never seen such a MALE response to a show, and specifically a love story, the way I have seen for Car Share. In my experience, most fandoms are 90% female. Yet with Car Share I’d say it’s 50/50.
After 2x04 aired, and Peter said there would be no season 3 or Christmas special, a HUGE amount of tweets I saw were from men saying they cried when Kayleigh walked out, how much they desperately wanted Kayleigh to get her happy ending, and how much they were screaming for John to kiss her and tell her he loved her.
I don’t know the explanation for why this show has touched so many men in this way, I can only say I believe it’s unique, and that it is a testament of something in the show being so exquisite it unlocked the romantic, soppy sides of thousands of British stiff-upper-lipped men.
All I can say is what I know, and that is that as a lifelong “shipper” who has followed TV relationship after TV relationship, that Car Share stands out, and I believe always will. It is a divine love story told perfectly from page one to the happy ending.
I was never one who believed the 2x04 was the end, it simply wasn’t logical or fitting with the crafted story that I had seen unfold. Yet that does not detract in any way from how powerful the last 10 minutes or so of that episode are.
It is agonising to watch the dance play out, seeing Kayleigh push and push that little bit more while John evades and backtracks and eventually lashes out. It’s so frighteningly realistic to see someone desperately trying to get a handle on a relationship, begging for something to hold onto, whilst the other person is feeling a fight or flight with fear. And so utterly painful to see how close they came to happiness - if only John had told Kayleigh about the dedication, or if only Kayleigh had stayed in the car a minute longer, she would have heard everything she wanted to hear. It’s a true reflection of how things can spiral and crash in life and love, and also how easily it can be fixed if one can only take the risk.
To which end I say thank you that you allowed John to take the risk, to push himself and express everything he felt and feared and wanted in the only way he knows how - in a song.
The Finale is utter perfection in how it resolves this fumbling, bumbling, achingly beautiful love story. Not in fireworks and proposals and kisses in the rain, but in quiet conversations full of teasing and trepidation, and ultimately in holding hands on the back of a bus blissfully knowing finally at last he is hers, and she is his.
In truth, Car Share is a love song disguised as a sitcom with verses overflowing with heart and soul. And it is a sitcom with a handful of salient messages - that miracles can happen in a car on a motorway on a Monday morning; that if you find someone who makes you laugh until a bit of wee comes out, hold their hand and never let go; that life’s for squeezing; and most importantly, always, always listen to the words.
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