At Home with the Braithwaites

I couldn't believe my eyes and ears seeing and hearing this over-the-top completely dysfunctional family and all of their weird friends and relations. Susan Wainright, the writer should be given top marks for the storyline which each week delivers more surprises than the previous week's episode. The first series was almost what one would expect from a family as weird and mixed-up as this one is but the second series excelled and I almost cringed at the antics of each and every character. Talk about behaving badly, well, this is the ultimate in "bad behaviour" and I'm sad that there is only one more episode to go before the end of the second series on Australian TV because I'll really miss my Saturday night dose of great British black comedy.

I really love this series, in which winning the lottery magnifies all the existing problems of a dysfunctional family. It's hilarious but ultimately very sad. While many over-the-top things happen, the writer is faithful to underlying truths about human frailties. The characters are three dimensional, even the real assholes, and the acting is uniformly good. Peter Davison is especially stellar in a performance that exemplifies his strengths as an actor. His comic timing is spot-on and he makes the weak, petulant philandering husband a sympathetic character without pulling any punches to blunt his shortcomings. You want to kick him in the face one minute and hug him the next. The desperate, hopeful way he looks at his estranged wife any time she gives him the tiniest glimmer of encouragement broke my heart. If you are a fan of Davison's, this series alone is worth buying a region-free DVD player for. While it's definitely British in both setting and tone, there is nothing in it that is at all difficult for Americans to "get."

I watched this TV Show many times and never got tired or bored of it. Very talented cast and script writers. Many thanks to them for making this lovely series.

With this series, ITV can be proud that it has produced a show that can stand alongside the best of the recent crop of programmes on all four major networks. It features a wonderfully disfunctional family , and their unusual circumstances. The humour, unusually for ITV, is refreshingly bitter. The filming, the characters, the casting, the acting are all superb. Best of all, the addictive storyline started well, and sustains itself equally well. Surely one of the shows of the year.

Alison Braithwaite is married to David. Together they live with their three daughters. Alison's life is turned upside down when she discovers that the Eurolottery ticket her youngest daughter got her for her birthday has landed her £38,000,000! In a bid to be responsible she decides to use the money for charitable purposes... but in doing so she keeps it a secret from her family.

And that's just the start of it all. The whole family are having their own particular crises, and somehow they all end up crashing in the middle. There are so many secrets being hidden away and the eventual outing of the truth is enthralling and unpredictable.

Light-hearted and heart-warming, this production makes being a fly on the wall such an enjoyable experience. It never fails to deliver while never being too serious. If there is a message in there somewhere then it is that life never goes as planned.

Thoroughly enjoyable... I hope there is more in the pipeline!