My Mad Fat Diary, a new comedy based on the diary entries written by Rae Earl, premiered on E4 on Monday evening (January 14, 2013) to near unanimous praise from critics. It follows the story of a 16-year-old, 16-stone girl, who leaves a psychiatric hospital where she has been treated for four months. She begins looking for love and finds herself hanging out with five 'cool kids', Izzy, Archie, Chloe, Chop and Fim.

The 6-episode series, starring Sharon Rooney, is being talked up as one of the funniest British shows of 2013, with The Guardian's TV critic Sam Wollaston serving up a glittering review. "It's lovely - honest and painful, real and very funny. There's something of Adrian Mole about MMFD, but it's maturer (because Rae is 16, and because she's a she)," he wrote, adding, "There's something of The Inbetweeners about it too, but with lady hormones fuelling the language, the filth, and Rae herself." The Independent's Brian Semple was more concerned with My Mad Fat Diary's positive portrayal of mental illness, writing, "It's rare for a teen TV drama to tackle mental illness, and rarer still that it manages to do so with both sensitivity and a sense of humour... That's why the new E4 series My Mad Fat Diary, which started tonight, marks a genuine highpoint in the way mental illness is represented on screen." The television series is likely to spark conversation in all walks of life, which can only be a good thing.

My Mad Fat Diary continues on Monday (January 21, 2013) on E4.