Everything I Know About Love

[Aquarius1234]

Bbc I player or tonight 10 40pm bbc one.

It's nothing original or amazing. But I'm enjoying it.
Romantic comedy drama basically.
Set in 2012.. which isn't exactly long ago.

Enjoying it more now I’ve nearly finished the series, have definitely switched allegiances from Birdie to Maggie, although uncomfortably I can see some parallels with me at that age, all settled down in a quasi-marriage with my then boyfriend, missing all the fun stuff in my 20s because I would rather eat Chinese in front of the telly like a 40-something (ie now 😅). Not liking Nell and her boss at all, and the whole drinking game debacle felt very plot device, since when was Nell the ‘blokey, unfuckable’ one?? She was gaffer taping her boobs as a top a couple of episodes prior!

Must say I haven’t seen one attractive man in it yet! They’re all gorgeous girls, they should have their pick, not Dean Gaffney lookalikes (genius @JoanWilderbeast) and crusty circus dudes dressed as Willie Wonka 😅

Also what’s the big deal for them with moving to London… I didn’t realise until a few episodes in that Maggie and Birdie were already from London?! Granted it’s the burbs but still, I grew up in zone 4 and we were never out of Camden and Covent Garden/Portabello, and later Shoreditch and Bethnal Green. Maggie acts like they’ve finally reached the holy grail aged 24, when Stanmore is on the tube and takes about half an hour to get to Camden?!

Just finished watching the Jubilee party episode and Maggie getting a taxi to Liverpool has ruined it a bit for me. It’s totally unrealistic! Wouldn’t want to travel outside of London let alone 250 miles! And you’d never find a black cab to take you.

It was in the book so though happened to doll IRL

*dolly

This confused me, too, especially as they also seemed to get the train to Paddington, implying they were down Wiltshire or Somerset or somewhere - I almost googled to see if there were other Stanmores, but it is the one that for those of us who grew up outside of the M25, makes her a Londoner anyway...

She was in Bristol doing market research at the start of the show.

Dolly hates the London suburbs- she considers it the middle of nowhere. It's very well expounded on in both her books. The protagonist always seems to live in Stanmore/Pinner (Nina in 'Ghosts') and they consider it too beige/identikit/miles away from anything.

Binged it in one week. Love Dolly Alderton, the book and the series

Is it just me/my TV or is the picture really dark? I can barely see anything all the scenes are so dark..
reminds me of the last GoT episode which was all in darkness.

“Dolly hates the London suburbs- she considers it the middle of nowhere. It's very well expounded on in both her books. The protagonist always seems to live in Stanmore/Pinner (Nina in 'Ghosts') and they consider it too beige/identikit/miles away from anything.”

’Dolly’ ie Hannah, sounds like a pretentious knob to me 🙃 but still, I’m enjoying the series and even feeling a bit maternal towards poor old Mags, so I’ll gloss over the suburban London judgements and just probably won’t pick up one of her books 🙃

I have just finished the Liverpool episode. I am 42 so 'my time' in London in my 20s was a decade before but there are bits I relate to - mainly the shagging around and awful hangovers/come downs and not wanting the night to end. I don't regret it but I am glad it is over. As a pp said - there is a universality to it that we all recognise maybe? I read the book and didn't relate that much. In this thread it has been lambasted as too 90's, too early 2000's, too 2010's and too 2020! Maybe we are just relating to the programme from our different perspectives?

I was a Maggie. That scene where she invited the Londis boys back made me wince as I would have been that foolish. I think Amara is the most likeable character. Interesting to see the introduction of tinder (I used it post divorce in 2016 and it was a different beast).

Dolly hates the London suburbs- she considers it the middle of nowhere. It's very well expounded on in both her books. The protagonist always seems to live in Stanmore/Pinner (Nina in 'Ghosts') and they consider it too beige/identikit/miles away from anything.

She knows nothing, says one who grew up on a west country farm...

I'm just starting this and enjoying it but finding the girls look so much older than early 20s!

The end was disappointing. It hasn't finished

I'm hoping it was left open enough so there's a second series

I'm in my late 60s and remember always falling for twats like Street in the 70s. I didn't take it as far as Maggie though. Maybe getting pregnant in 1980 diverted me and I ended up a bit more like Birdy. Certainly recognisable situations even though I'm so much older.

Halfway through the series. I was a grad in London in 2012 era and some of it I can relate to, but much of it (clothes, language/phrases, lifestyle) seems much more modern? Have to say I really didn't like the book at all, thought it was over hyped, self absorbed nonsense. But a few friends told me to watch the show. Surprised that I'm enjoying it marginally more!

Just started watching it and love it

"Street" is a nob.

Hated the way it ended i thought my sky box had missed the last episode but enjoyed it overall

I grew up in a tougher bit of London, but not all that far from Stanmore. I would never have put myself in such vulnerable positions as a young woman in London. Couldn't bear to watch the first episode all the way through.

Thought some of the New York images were fab. But that's easy shots, I guess.

Did anyone else watch it wondering at times if Maggie was actually in love with Birdie? I mean, I have close friends from my childhood/teens. And there was certainly a point in early adulthood when we were essentially each other's significant others. But I definitely never remember dancing together in a nightclub and stepping back to look at them deeply while reminiscing about significant moments in our teen lives. There were times when one of us would get into a very significant relationship and that feeling of them pulling away certainly hurt and you'd miss your usual routines. But never to the point where that hurt would have me tearfully absorbed in flashbacks to our teen bonding.

And I actually realised as an older adult that I'm bisexual and can tell with hindsight that I did have a something of a crush on one of my best friends. Yet I think that Maggie's preoccupation with Birdie was weird and unhealthy. I'm by no means 'team Birdie' but I do think it's right that she takes that step away from Maggie, because she is being used as something she shouldn't be by Maggie.

Also, I've rarely seen someone look as different with and without make-up as Maggie. I didn't think that the teen who was playing her younger self looked anything like Maggie. But she does in the scenes where Maggie is in the bath/shower without make-up and with her hair off her face.

@Wanderingowl - there was definitely something very intense there.
i had some extremely close friends as a teen/young adult - prob until I met dh - but not quite like that. I had no interest in sleeping in bed w them or being physically close in any way except a hug on meeting up. My bf of many years used to want to walk arm in arm and I never liked it!

Actually it reminded me of a housemate I had at uni who was possessive about ALL relationships. I think part of her issue was that she wanted to feel important and at the centre of someone else's world. As far as I know she still identifies as straight and is married to a man.

She dominated another of my housemates who was on the same course, wanted to spend all day, every day with her, share beds etc. Super controlling and would sulk for DAYS if the other housemate made plans or did something that didn't involve her.

The whole point of it was about her love for Birdie - that was everything she knew about love.