Review in The Telegraph:
“The show ended in 2022 but writer Abi Morgan has gone down the EastEnders-in-Spain route by packing her characters off to sunnier climes for a two-part special (concluding tonight). Is it any good? Well, I enjoyed spending time in their company again. Overall, though, it’s a disappointment.
There is a plot: Liv (Elizabeth Roberts), the daughter of Hannah and Nathan (Walker and Stephen Mangan) is getting married to her Spanish boyfriend, Gael. His parents are fabulously wealthy, and the wedding is due to take place at their estate in the Spanish countryside, which, of course, does not go without a hitch. The Defoe family are there en masse. Hannah and Nathan are now divorced, but still love each other to varying degrees. He now has a partner, a baby and – oh dear – an earring, but has found that the grass isn’t greener. Hannah has dipped a toe in the internet-dating pool and had a few dates with a chap named Archie, played by Toby Stephens, before running out on him. Archie is a lawyer whose clients include a fabulously wealthy Spanish couple who have invited him to attend their son’s wedding. Can you see where this is going?
Unfortunately, Walker and Stephens have no chemistry, so this isn’t a romance in which we can become invested. Some of the script and plotting concerning the in-laws would be rejected by the writers of Death in Paradise. A liaison between Nina (Annabel Scholey) and a female employee at the finca feels chucked in just to give her character something to do. The director keeps resorting to slow-motion camera work, filming the cast walking through sun-dappled vineyards, in an attempt to evoke fuzzy feelings among viewers.
Walker and Mangan are still great at understated comedy (“Our contribution to this wedding will cover, at best, the patatas bravas,” says Nathan) and at digging out emotional truths. When Hannah admits to worries about dating again at her age, it will chime with many people. And the good news is that, by the end, Nathan has ditched the earring.”
