Saturday 21 November

BLOGS

blogCategory
Previous
Back to blog
Next

Mistresses

Sharon Small, Orla Brady, Sarah Parish and Shelley Conn in Mistresses
  • Posted at 4:13pm
  • 12 February 2009
  • by AlisonGraham-RT
  • 1 comment

Calling a TV series a "guilty pleasure" is a bit of a cop-out, because it's just a snooty way of saying "I'm far too clever and well-educated to enjoy this, but I do enjoy it, only in my own witty and ironic postmodern sort of way."

But I'll come clean and admit that though Mistresses (which starts on BBC1 on Tuesday 17 February, and you will doubtless have seen the sexy trailers) is complete nonsense, I actually adore it not only because it's complete nonsense, but also because it's sumptuously lovely, completely enthralling complete nonsense. Simple as that. Nothing snooty and nothing complicated. I'm hooked.

I took the first series far too seriously, I realise now. What irritated me was that the four central female characters, the Mistresses of the title, were supposed to be intelligent, talented, clever women who were forging their own ways in the world, yet as soon as a man appeared on the scene, they melted like Cornish Mivvies in strong sunshine.

Now, I don't care. Mistresses is a fantasy, a fluffy, silly, confection of a thing that surely isn't meant to be taken seriously (as least, I hope it isn't). What I like best about it, though, is that it looks so darn lovely. It's interior décor porn, right down to the gorgeous glass staircase in newlywed Jessica's beautifully minimalist flat.

Yes, when you find yourself admiring the bedding and the lampshades, even the glorious Georgian front doors (it's filmed in a lovely part of Bristol) you know there is no hope. There's a lot to be said for superficiality.

I love Mistresses because it eschews everything that we have come to expect from po-faced British television dramas, that they have to be dark, gritty and "real" and, if at all possible, set on crack-ridden council estates where life is despairing and hopeless.

Instead its glittery tosh, featuring four unbelievable female characters who aren't mistresses at all, despite the title. Trudi (Sharon Small) is a housewife with a new live-in boyfriend, Jessica (Shelley Conn) was a lesbian for about ten minutes in series one, and now she's married (to a man), Katie (Sarah Parish) is a doctor who nearly destroyed her career by having an affair with the son of her dead, married, lover and Siobhan (Orla Brady) had a baby after an adulterous affair and now gets her kicks picking up strange men in bars for anonymous sex.

If it all sounds ridiculously over-heated, well yes, it is. But that's the fun. Go on, enjoy yourselves.

**

Alison Graham is TV editor of Radio Times - read her column in the latest issue of Radio Times magazine, on sale now.

Link to this post
Post a comment | 1 comment

Comments

  • Posted on 16 March 2009
  • at 12:13pm
  • by Sarah

Love the drama, thanks for the mention of our beautiful glass stairs. The series has done a world good promoting contemporary design and interiors. Can we have more sets like this!

Post a comment

Do you have something to say about this post? Share your thoughts…

Post a comment

(first or nickname only)

Please do not include any personal or personally identifiable information about yourself or others (including email addresses). All information you submit about yourself or others can be viewed by others.

Thank you for your comment

Thank you for your comments. All comments will be looked at by a moderator, however, due to the numbers of comments we receive, we can't promise that all will be posted on the site.

Post another comment

More


Advertisement