Before Cold Feet, there was sitcom and there was drama. This 1997 newcomer straddled both worlds effortlessly and single-handedly seemed to create a new genre for its mother channel, ITV. Set in Manchester, the action revolved around three couples at different stages of the relationship development continuum. In the pilot Adam and Rachel (who dominated the plot) were barely a couple at all, Pete and Jenny were desperately trying to conceive their first child and their friends David and Karen were married with a toddler called Josh. This is one of those rare but delightful examples of a sharp-witted and sassy script being wedded in perfect bliss to the actors's performances (as long as Helen Baxendale, who is decorative but lacks timing, didn't grace the screen for too long). Mike Bullen's comedy drama was about the human condition writ large, but although its six characters go through a life's worth of emotions in each series and the action consistently draws on elements of farce, Cold Feet never strays too far from the bounds of credibility. Initially James Nesbitt (Adam) and John Thomson (Pete) provided the comic core but, as the series developed, Fay Ripley (Jenny), Hermione Norris (Karen) and Robert Bathurst (David) all proved they had comic capabilities worth exploiting.
Series One begins with Adam and Rachel celebrating an anniversary of sorts. Adam, revealing a propensity for slushy romanticism, decides to make a song and dance about it with fairly disastrous consequences. It's this same romanticism that gets him into trouble as a charming but incorrigible womaniser in later episodes. But not before the couple move in together, explore their sexual fantasies and then watch as the shine of love gets tarnished by petty irritations and Rachel's intolerance of Adam's bad habits. Meanwhile after all their struggles to conceive, Jenny gives birth to baby Adam which leaves her and Pete exhausted and wistful about their long-gone social life. By the end of the series David and Karen have gone one stage further and tried marriage counselling after David started having problems in the bedroom department. This takes some feats of persuasion on Karen's part--one of David's defining characteristics is his constant worry about what other people think--but the yuppie couple do see some of the benefits in Series Two. Like all good drama, the series ends with a cliffhanger in the form of some bombshell news from Rachel, who is last seen boarding a train for London. --Emma Perry
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