Bedtime - Series 2 Details

An Original Series

The sheer quality of Andy Hamilton's writing and the subtle performances from Timothy West (Andrew Oldfield), Sheila Hancock (Alice Oldfield), Stephen Tompkinson (Paul Newcombe) and Claire Skinner (Sarah Newcombe) put this serio-comedy into a class of its own. Constrained by its physical setting (3 suburban bedrooms) and its time setting (bedtime) it could easily have become static, but in the six parts of the first series at least the expected blends with the unexpected to produce some absorbing television.

ake for example the plot line involving the Oldfield's daughter's marriage, or the Newcombes' struggle to accommodate their relationship to parenthood. Neither is quite what it seems, yet in retrospect what happens seems inevitable. The third couple, Sapphire the Kiwi girl and Gulliver her `celebrity' boyfriend ? really a threesome with the tabloid journalist artfully played by Meera Syal - are perhaps the least involving but very entertaining nevertheless.

Andy Hamilton, who once wrote for `Not the Nine O'Clock News' and `Drop the Dead Donkey', seems more serious-minded here, but with the aid of some splendid actors has produced more than just comic archetypes. There must be thousands of couples out there just like the Oldfields (though it is unlikely an Andrew would recognise himself), and we can empathise with the Newcombes, though their problem turns out to be a bit more unusual. I hope things don't get too bizarre and this show remains a gem.