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Marriage.

(340 Posts)
Calendargirl Sun 14-Aug-22 18:33:12

Who’s planning on watching this tonight on BBC1 at 9pm?

Starring the gorgeous Sean Bean and Nicola Walker.

Only snag, it’s written by the same bloke who wrote ‘Mum’, which most other GN’ers loved, and I thought was a load of nonsense.

I know I was in the minority.

Hope his latest effort is more to my taste.

But with Sean in it..,..smile?

MayBee70 Fri 09-Sep-22 15:51:45

Reading a tv review in The Times it mentions a new series called Stuck as being similar to Marriage albeit being a comedy. I loved Dylan Moran in Black Books so I’ll give it a go.

harrigran Mon 05-Sep-22 13:25:50

Decided to watch the series to see what it was about. Possibly the worst thing I have ever watched and I will be surprised if Nicola Walker ever works again. I liked Sean Bean as an actor but his part was pathetic.

JaneJudge Thu 01-Sep-22 18:42:00

I stuck with it and really enjoyed it smile

I thought in hindsight he'd smashed the car up because she had been telling him about he slept with all the younger female staff, even work experience? and he thought she was infatuated with him (thought the opposite was true?)

Farzanah Mon 29-Aug-22 16:42:28

And I have an unwanted ear worm, that damn To the side, to the side……

Farzanah Mon 29-Aug-22 15:58:23

Buttoned up emotion and aggression finding an outlet without directly hurting/destroying his marriage MayBee?

MayBee70 Mon 29-Aug-22 15:46:26

But why did he smash the car up?

Lyndylou Mon 29-Aug-22 15:10:13

I have just found time to watch part 4 and I have found the series fascinating and absorbing. The first part made the couple seem boring and not communicating very well, but the last part showed how actually they were very tight knit, supporting and looking out for each other through the child's death and his redundancy. There was also a lot of support and love for the daughter. It was only after the last episode that it clicked with me that the jacket potato argument was being deliberately dragged out by Emma to distract Ian because he was scared of flying. Apologies if that was obvious to everyone else from the start!

I hope there is more from Stefan in the future.

MayBee70 Sun 28-Aug-22 11:18:03

I did find it morbidly fascinating in a strange way. I see trailers for it on the tv that make it look really good. I feel that there is a good dramady struggling to get out of it but it certainly didn’t manage to do so in series one. Will I watch it if there’s a second series? Probably. If only to make some sort of sense of it. I think the music suited it. Maybe it was meant to be a sort of blank canvass that we could all interpret in our own way? Or maybe it was script writing at it’s worse.

sodapop Sun 28-Aug-22 08:38:19

There were times when I found myself getting interested in the story but a lot of it was quite tedious I thought. Like Farzanah I would have liked to explore some of the story lines but I suppose the series was trying to convey quite the opposite.

Eloethan Sun 28-Aug-22 00:17:15

The soundtrack was creepy.

Eloethan Sun 28-Aug-22 00:15:54

I was so looking forward to this - two great actors who generally accept only the very best scripts.

About twenty minutes into the first episode I started grumbling to myself. The conversations between the two were supposed to be naturalistic but I didn't find them convincing. I wasn't at all convinced by Sean Bean's interpretation - the silly exchanges with people, the fixed smile, etc, etc. just didn't ring true to me.

Having said all that, I found the subject matter quite interesting in that it dealt with situations that many people have experienced and which are often over-dramatised in TV and films - deaths, worries about family issues, work colleagues, job worries, etc, etc.

The reviews in the newspapers have been, on the whole, glowing - one even going so far as describing it as a"masterpiece". I certainly wouldn't go that far.

MayBee70 Thu 25-Aug-22 13:24:22

It was in my first marriage. In fact twenty plus years later we’re good friends and the lack of communication with him becomes more and more apparent. At the time I just thought all marriages were like mine. No one in his family talks about things. Everything is brushed under the carpet.

Farzanah Thu 25-Aug-22 09:20:29

Watched it to the bitter end. I guess trying to convey the mundane existence of a marriage and lack of communication even when undergoing big life events. The death of a newborn, the adoption of a child, responsibility for a parent, death of a parent, working with a sleazy drug taking boss, just for starters!

Although I like both actors it didn’t work for me and seemed contrived. Interesting that generally the critics loved it but viewers didn’t. Says a lot.

Is this lack of communication common to most British households? It ain’t in ours ⚡️⚡️

melp1 Tue 23-Aug-22 21:02:12

Like both the actors but watched the first episode and found it boring I wont be watching anymore.
Bring back Last Tango in Halifax

JaneJudge Tue 23-Aug-22 18:15:27

I've just watched the first episode and I've realised I thought James Bolam aka Grandpa in my pocket was James Acaster. No wonder all my friends and associates think I talk in another language and live on another planet

MayBee70 Tue 23-Aug-22 17:58:45

I don’t understand why they had to take a suitcase to pick up Jess’s things as she must surely have used something to take them to the flat in the first place? It’s little things like that that annoyed me.

Cabbie21 Tue 23-Aug-22 17:03:05

I was expecting more in the last episode but was disappointed. DH thought it was awful. I said it reflects the mundane nature of marriage, so it did not make for great viewing. Best thing was Jess leaving her partner and then speaking openly to her parents.

gulligranny Tue 23-Aug-22 14:07:38

I absolutely adored Mum and was very much looking forward to this, even though I don't like Sean Bean.

From the discordant "music" to us both being fixated on Sean Bean's strange gnashers, sadly it did nothing for us at all. Maybe it would have been better as half-hour episodes rather than the full hour ones, which were extremely tedious.

Kate1949 Mon 22-Aug-22 22:55:24

We've just watched the last one. Thought it was great.

MayBee70 Mon 22-Aug-22 21:00:51

James Bolam’s character, to me, was the only one with any depth and the one I wanted to find out more about.

SachaMac Mon 22-Aug-22 20:42:04

I watched the final episode last night, there were some strange scenes, the ball scratching in the kitchen for starters. Was most of it ad libbed or was it just written to appear that way.

All of the relationships were just so awkward and strained, Emma was so uptight, making everyone feel awkward around her. I think Sean Bean & James Bolam played their parts well. Awful to think that some couples might actually live like that!

MayBee70 Mon 22-Aug-22 15:59:05

With regard to difficult subject matter, a film came on tv last night. It was difficult subject matter x10 and more. But from the minute it started I was gripped by it. I didn’t watch all of it as I had to get up early this morning but I will watch it on catchup. It was called ( I think) X+Y. I wasn’t looking at my watch and hoping it would end. It was the sort of subject matter that I would usually avoid but it drew me in right from the start.

Sara1954 Mon 22-Aug-22 15:04:22

Well maybe it’s just a very poor choice of subject for a television drama, very difficult subjects can be broached without making the audience feel awkward and embarrassed for the characters

Maggiemaybe Mon 22-Aug-22 14:44:42

I’m a bit bemused by the number of posters saying that the series doesn’t portray their own marriage, or a “normal” or “usual” marriage.

It’s a drama, a portrayal of one particular couple’s marriage. I wouldn’t expect it to be anything like mine, in fact I’m very glad it isn’t. I still enjoyed the series.

Marjgran Mon 22-Aug-22 14:06:11

Exactly - and this couple had suffered a major loss and now mid life stresses… extremely realistic