Actually to be fair, the main tension here was between a mother and a mother-to-be: Ellen (Morven Christie) works in a firm of implausibly good looking Glaswegian architects when, having landed a big contract, she discovers she is with child.
The firm thus hires Paula (Vicky McClure) to stand in for her during her maternity leave, Paula having a child who is now 10 and a husband who appears to be happy to embrace the role of domestic sap. But it very soon becomes apparent to the viewer, if not Ellen’s other unaccountably handsome co-workers, that her agenda is not all it seems to be.
From handing out patronising advice to undermining Ellen on the work front, Paula clearly has issues, something we’re also made aware of via a few shots of her looking mean and moody in a black and white interior. But then again Ellen has her own demons too.
It gradually emerges that she suffered severe depression following the death of her mother several years previously and ended up in psychiatric care, before marrying her psychiatrist. (A cavil here, I thought that was illegal? Or against the Hippocratic Oath?)
At any rate hubby, who in the looks department is up there with the rest of them, starts doubting his wife’s sanity, as do the rest of the firm, including childfree Kay, who is the boss of the show and even higher in the attractiveness stakes, if you get the picture.
A career in architecture clearly leaves plenty of time for workouts at the gym.
At any rate it’s all hugely enjoyable tosh, a cross between The Hand That Rocks The Cradle and Single White Female, in an environment in which no one bats an eyelid when various cast members elect to spend time alone in building sites late at night. You just know no good will come of it and indeed it didn’t.
The programme ended on a very sinister note indeed as it seems Ellen might have a lot more to worry about than just her career.
And history buffs were getting equally well catered for courtesy of 1066: A YEAR TO CONQUER ENGLAND(BBC2).
It told the story of the run-up to the Battle of Hastings, with Dan Snow fronting the show, as ever, these days we didn’t just get a lecture on what went on.
Instead the Beeb appeared to have enlisted the help of all those role players who like to re-enact medieval battles, along with members of the thespian community to play key roles.
Somewhat confusingly Dan himself got to play the action man, jetting around in a speedboat here, a Viking longboat there, all in the name of educating the rest of us, no doubt.
There was some concern a while back that writers these days are not just required to write, but to be attractive and outgoing types who will perform well on talk shows; the same appears to be true of historians, who don’t just need to know their Harald Hardradas from their William the Conquerors, but also need to be able to gallop bareback on a horse while carrying a spear.
No matter. It was the last time Britain was ever invaded. Is it any wonder we can’t help but feel a sense of superiority towards the rest of the world?
Daily Express :: TV and Radio Feed
