Highly contrived to the point of ridiculously unbelievable 6-part ITV drama set in the beautiful looking countryside of Lake Windermere. The plot is basically "take three girls", all friends on the face of it, who will see their marriages as well as their friendship tested up to and beyond their limits as ever more unlikely events occur in their lives.
So let's take Anna Friel's character first. A struggling mum, who works as a dog-walker, forever wearing either dress-down dungarees or jeans and a Fair Isle jumper, she appears at first to be happily married to her Scots-born husband with their two kids. But no, it seems that Anna harbours feelings of inferiority and being taken for granted so that when she's invited with her husband to a posh party in a big fancy house by her well-to-do friend, she gets a chance to put on a posh frock and feel a bit glam for once. Then, while husband is getting sloshed downstairs, she has sex in the bathroom upstairs with her friend's sister's husband, so that afterwards she can now add shame and guilt to her growing list of neuroses.
Then take said well-to-do friend, Rosalind Eleazor, living in said big house, married with two children, whose husband has previously run off with the au-pair. Her son wears an eye patch, appears to be in delicate health and seems withdrawn and troubled while her daughter by contrast seems like 15 going on 35. Her marriage is obviously in trouble and she is desperate to get her husband back. Then the daughter goes missing, after Friel forgets to collect her from school for a sleepover (piling more guilt on the hapless Friel) starting a full-scale girl-hunt but which seems to bring the concerned husband / father back to the estranged wife at least for a time.
And finally take Sinead Keenan, a really struggling mum of one, with a husband who has a gambling addiction. They're one step away from the bailiffs as her hubby can't hold down a job and she can't make enough from her massage business. That is, until a wealthy, Porsche-driving, handsome client rocks up and offers to pay her handsomely for no-commitment occasional sex. Naturally she resists but when she's about to see her house repossessed and her well-off brother refuses to bale her out this time, she caves, but just as a one-off of course, to get her on her feet. That is until hubby caves, takes the found cash with which she's about to pay off their debts and blows it at the bookie's. So she caves again to the rich caveman, having sex with him at her office, although unbeknownst to her they're being filmed in the act by her sleazy young male receptionist whose price of silence is a private session with her too.
It all goes on from there, involving along the way Keenan's girl-friend neighbour next door, the local cop, pining for her ex-girl-friend but who leads the investigation for the missing girl as well as child-minding for Keenan when she's out with her paying hunk.
This bizarre mix of sex, guilt, and shame was all over the place redeemed by neither a realistic or even connected narrative or convincing acting. Some people might enjoy this countryside romp with its vague tag-line that the rich have as many problems in their lives as the poor but really I just found the plot jumps ludicrous to the point of laughable and ended up seeing it through to the end not because I was even remotely interested in the so-called characters' lives but just really to get to the end.
So let's take Anna Friel's character first. A struggling mum, who works as a dog-walker, forever wearing either dress-down dungarees or jeans and a Fair Isle jumper, she appears at first to be happily married to her Scots-born husband with their two kids. But no, it seems that Anna harbours feelings of inferiority and being taken for granted so that when she's invited with her husband to a posh party in a big fancy house by her well-to-do friend, she gets a chance to put on a posh frock and feel a bit glam for once. Then, while husband is getting sloshed downstairs, she has sex in the bathroom upstairs with her friend's sister's husband, so that afterwards she can now add shame and guilt to her growing list of neuroses.
Then take said well-to-do friend, Rosalind Eleazor, living in said big house, married with two children, whose husband has previously run off with the au-pair. Her son wears an eye patch, appears to be in delicate health and seems withdrawn and troubled while her daughter by contrast seems like 15 going on 35. Her marriage is obviously in trouble and she is desperate to get her husband back. Then the daughter goes missing, after Friel forgets to collect her from school for a sleepover (piling more guilt on the hapless Friel) starting a full-scale girl-hunt but which seems to bring the concerned husband / father back to the estranged wife at least for a time.
And finally take Sinead Keenan, a really struggling mum of one, with a husband who has a gambling addiction. They're one step away from the bailiffs as her hubby can't hold down a job and she can't make enough from her massage business. That is, until a wealthy, Porsche-driving, handsome client rocks up and offers to pay her handsomely for no-commitment occasional sex. Naturally she resists but when she's about to see her house repossessed and her well-off brother refuses to bale her out this time, she caves, but just as a one-off of course, to get her on her feet. That is until hubby caves, takes the found cash with which she's about to pay off their debts and blows it at the bookie's. So she caves again to the rich caveman, having sex with him at her office, although unbeknownst to her they're being filmed in the act by her sleazy young male receptionist whose price of silence is a private session with her too.
It all goes on from there, involving along the way Keenan's girl-friend neighbour next door, the local cop, pining for her ex-girl-friend but who leads the investigation for the missing girl as well as child-minding for Keenan when she's out with her paying hunk.
This bizarre mix of sex, guilt, and shame was all over the place redeemed by neither a realistic or even connected narrative or convincing acting. Some people might enjoy this countryside romp with its vague tag-line that the rich have as many problems in their lives as the poor but really I just found the plot jumps ludicrous to the point of laughable and ended up seeing it through to the end not because I was even remotely interested in the so-called characters' lives but just really to get to the end.