It remains as freshly sharp in its views on modern parenthood as ever, pointing up the hypocrisy of a society that blithely looks on by if a man leaves his family but is aghast should a mother do the same. And as a shell-shocked Bea returns alone from her adoptive Australia to the bosom of her best friends Kate and Alex , both parents themselves, back in Blighty, everyone's preconceptions, personalities and peccadilloes are challenged.
Michelle Duncan's Bea captures the brittle uncertainty of a woman trying not to drown in a sea of such uncertainty from friends and family alike, not to mention herself, but it is Charlottes Emmerson and Lucas who really impress as Alex and Kate, their larger personalities filling the space wonderfully with their utterly believable chemistry and supported in keeping the limelight by a quartet of magnetic but minor male roles. Worth going the distance for.