Unrealistic portrayals of news gathering in fiction aren’t news. In fact so commonplace are they that it would be more noteworthy to see a depiction that rang true.

The journalist character – invariably an unscrupulous one – has been a staple of film and TV since their earliest days. Yet each wrong iteration still makes us hacks bristle. I recall my social media being one long howl of outrage at the height of the popularity of Broadchurch, which set the press just one ethical notch up from the killer. 

But unrealistic journalists on screen are a given. What I’m keen to discuss today is the unrealistic lifestyles of journalists on screen.  Because this week saw the return of Ricky Gervais’s hit comedy-drama After Life, one of the best examples of this trope.