SUNDAY 10 DECEMBER
Drama
Housewife, 49
9:00pm - 11:00pm
ITV1 London
VIDEO Plus+: 3316
Subtitles, audio description, widescreen
Although Victoria Wood wrote and stars in this drama, it is by no means typical Wood fare, and anyone who tunes in expecting warm wit and gently surreal humour will most certainly be wrong-footed. Wood is Nella Last, trapped in stultifying marriage to a cold, austere man to whom she and her grown-up sons routinely refer as daddy (Shameless's David Threlfall). It's the early days of the Second World War in Barrow-in- Furness, Cumbria, and downtrodden, timid Nella is recovering - not well - from a nervous breakdown. But she unlocks her personality and broadens the horizons of her small life when she starts to keep a diary for the government's Mass Observation programme. Once you've grasped the fact that this isn't Acorn Antiques, it becomes a gently beguiling drama, full of warmth and humanity. It's also packed with formidable female characters, notably the magnificent Stephanie Cole as the head of the local Women's Voluntary Service, where Nella begins to find a life of her own.
RT reviewer - Alison Graham
Nella Last - Victoria Wood
Will Last - David Threlfall
Cliff Last - Christopher Harper
Arthur Last - Ben Crompton
Dot - Lorraine Ashbourne
Mrs Whittaker - Sally Bankes
Mrs Waite - Stephanie Cole
Mrs Lord - Marcia Warren
Mrs Lynch - Sylvestra Le Touzel
Miss Finch - Wendy Nottingham
Mrs Higham - Jane Lowe
Mrs Mac - Dorothy Atkinson
Evelyn Edwards - Siân Brooke
Madeleine Whittaker - Laura Power
Dr Roger Brierley - Jason Watkins
Jill - Daisy Haggard
Pru - Clare Wille
Dennis - Alan Cox
Godfrey - Hugh Sachs
Mrs Hockey - Georgie Glen
Michael Hockey - Samuel Roukin
Robbie Kilgour - Duncan Barton
Mrs Brierley - Olwen May
Edith - Catherine Skinner
Mr Whittaker - Norman Mills
James Wendchurch - Joseph Kennedy
.