I'd not seen the series at the time of its transmission and only caught it by accident 10 years later.
Like many I greatly admire Alison Steadman, here though she doesn't an opportunity for the grand grotesques with which she has graced the large and small screens, and on radio (in the form of the very obliging Mrs Naughtie). Here she is well meaning, motherly and tolerant of her sour, sarcastic and humourless husband - played by an actor who has honed this type of role to withering perfection - Geoffrey Whitehead.
Lovely comic actress Sarah Alexander once again plays to her strengths.
The format and some of the laughs are quite familiar - faux pas and foul-ups committed by new husband and soon to be new father played by Ben Miller. One comic situation was unfamiliar - in warmly hugging his mother in law to comfort her, a baby's rattle comes between them. Of all the nightmare misunderstandings, this must rate as one of the worst. So unspeakable that quite believably the Alison Steadman character runs away and locks herself in her bedroom - preventing her from hearing the innocent explanation until some while later. Had this been a big screen version, the Geoffrey Whitehead character would have reacted. This TV production would have benefited from some honing.
