Who would ever have thought that one of the most interesting and original series could take place in a registrar's office? And yet that's exactly what you'll find in this series. The sad news is finding out that no season two if forthcoming. Compound that with cliffhangers here and perhaps a campaign to see it start again is in order.
The story revolves around Kate (Ashley Jensen), one of the main registrars in the Leeds Register Office. Kate has an incredibly busy life to lead not only due to work but her home life as well. Her son complains and wants, her daughter is having issues with self-esteem and her stepson is going through a breakup so has moved in with her and her companion Rob (Adrian Bower), a police detective. Yes even though her job is to marry folks she's not married herself as the show opens. She and Rob juggle responsibilities with the kids as best as they can.
Off to work she goes only to find as much turmoil there as at home. James (Mark Stanley) is a co-worker who is about to change from male to female. Rick (Kenny Doughty) is a co-worker Kate had drunken sex with at the Christmas office party. And Judy (Rebecca Front) is the office wet blanket, an enforcer of rules and creator of same. Various other office mates are found but these are the ones with storylines this time around.
For James his story is the entire transgender situation. He's comes out to the rest of the group and advises them that he'll be dressing as a woman forthwith. He tells Kate he's going to tell his wife and the end result of that doesn't go well. She kicks him out not wanting their two teen boys to see him like this. With no place to go he ends up adding to the crowd at Kate's home sleeping on the couch. His struggle takes various turns through this first season.
The other two have differing issues all due to the recent retirement of the head of the registry office. Everyone immediately assumes that temporary head Judy, the perennial butt kissing rule obeying and oft hated co-worker, will get the job. All are pleasantly surprised when supervisor Matthew (Matthew Marsh) lets them know that Kate has agreed to take the position full time. Everyone except Judy.
It seems that Judy has found the footage on the office CCTV of Kate and Rick having their fling in the storage room. She uses it to blackmail Kate, promising that if she decides to stay on the job she'll make Matthew aware of the footage as well as Rob. With so much going on in the office she gives her time to make her move.
Rick continues to pine for Kate. He's fallen in love with her and admits it's always been that way. What was a onetime thing for Kate is something Rick wants to make more permanent, willing to abandon his girlfriend to spend his life with her. Kate is flattered but rebuffs his advances.
But she's not quite sure about her own emotions. Is she still attracted to Rick? And what about Rob? Is there a reason that they two of them never married? To complicate that the two discuss getting married now only to discover that Rob never divorced his first wife officially.
As all of this drama behind the scenes is taking place there is plenty more out at the desks. One involves a young man who wants to marry his dying girlfriend. She put off treatment for her illness because she was pregnant. With the child here and dying they want to marry now. That changes into a story involving registering her death later.
Another involves a group of marriage scam artists and human trafficking. Girls forced into the country illegally gain citizenship status and then are forced to marry so the men can stay once their visas expire. With a little bit of intuition and a lot of research Kate pulls Rob into their investigation. This will either result in utter failure or capturing a group of criminals. When one of the girls ends up dead the stakes are raised.
Not enough stories yet? Well there is also the use of a plotline involving same sex marriage just made legal about the time of the series starting. Several same sex marriages with various issues involved are brought into play but mainly as a way of showing the prejudice Judy has towards this now legal procedure. Her maneuvering to not have to marry same sex couples comes into play with the back and forth issue of who will run this office.
The series is incredibly interesting no matter what your views are on different topics at hand. And while you may not support a character who has a one night stand you feel for her with the predicaments that follow. Her decisions aren't always the best ones to be made. She's human and makes mistakes just like the rest of us. Add in the touch of police drama in trying to catch the human traffickers and it gets more interesting.
Perhaps the biggest weakness of the show is the full blown open mindedness of Kate. She accepts nearly everything that people decide to do, not only accepting but encouraging everything. With James she counsels him to carry on with who he wants to be ignoring the issues it might cause for his family. With same sex marriages you get the feeling she's happier for those couples than the others whose weddings she officiates. Her own personal views on marriage seem at odds to her own situation most of the time. But it is these weaknesses that make the character more human than most offered on series these days. They provide a depth to her.
But the show has a bigger weakness. That's the fact that there is no second season. By the time I finished watching this I wanted to know what happened after that last episode. And yet apparently not enough interest was garnered for it to go. How that can be after only 6 episodes is confounding. So for now we're presented with those episodes on disc to enjoy more than once. And my guess is that given the chance you will find the show as interesting and enjoyable as I did.
The story revolves around Kate (Ashley Jensen), one of the main registrars in the Leeds Register Office. Kate has an incredibly busy life to lead not only due to work but her home life as well. Her son complains and wants, her daughter is having issues with self-esteem and her stepson is going through a breakup so has moved in with her and her companion Rob (Adrian Bower), a police detective. Yes even though her job is to marry folks she's not married herself as the show opens. She and Rob juggle responsibilities with the kids as best as they can.
Off to work she goes only to find as much turmoil there as at home. James (Mark Stanley) is a co-worker who is about to change from male to female. Rick (Kenny Doughty) is a co-worker Kate had drunken sex with at the Christmas office party. And Judy (Rebecca Front) is the office wet blanket, an enforcer of rules and creator of same. Various other office mates are found but these are the ones with storylines this time around.
For James his story is the entire transgender situation. He's comes out to the rest of the group and advises them that he'll be dressing as a woman forthwith. He tells Kate he's going to tell his wife and the end result of that doesn't go well. She kicks him out not wanting their two teen boys to see him like this. With no place to go he ends up adding to the crowd at Kate's home sleeping on the couch. His struggle takes various turns through this first season.
The other two have differing issues all due to the recent retirement of the head of the registry office. Everyone immediately assumes that temporary head Judy, the perennial butt kissing rule obeying and oft hated co-worker, will get the job. All are pleasantly surprised when supervisor Matthew (Matthew Marsh) lets them know that Kate has agreed to take the position full time. Everyone except Judy.
It seems that Judy has found the footage on the office CCTV of Kate and Rick having their fling in the storage room. She uses it to blackmail Kate, promising that if she decides to stay on the job she'll make Matthew aware of the footage as well as Rob. With so much going on in the office she gives her time to make her move.
Rick continues to pine for Kate. He's fallen in love with her and admits it's always been that way. What was a onetime thing for Kate is something Rick wants to make more permanent, willing to abandon his girlfriend to spend his life with her. Kate is flattered but rebuffs his advances.
But she's not quite sure about her own emotions. Is she still attracted to Rick? And what about Rob? Is there a reason that they two of them never married? To complicate that the two discuss getting married now only to discover that Rob never divorced his first wife officially.
As all of this drama behind the scenes is taking place there is plenty more out at the desks. One involves a young man who wants to marry his dying girlfriend. She put off treatment for her illness because she was pregnant. With the child here and dying they want to marry now. That changes into a story involving registering her death later.
Another involves a group of marriage scam artists and human trafficking. Girls forced into the country illegally gain citizenship status and then are forced to marry so the men can stay once their visas expire. With a little bit of intuition and a lot of research Kate pulls Rob into their investigation. This will either result in utter failure or capturing a group of criminals. When one of the girls ends up dead the stakes are raised.
Not enough stories yet? Well there is also the use of a plotline involving same sex marriage just made legal about the time of the series starting. Several same sex marriages with various issues involved are brought into play but mainly as a way of showing the prejudice Judy has towards this now legal procedure. Her maneuvering to not have to marry same sex couples comes into play with the back and forth issue of who will run this office.
The series is incredibly interesting no matter what your views are on different topics at hand. And while you may not support a character who has a one night stand you feel for her with the predicaments that follow. Her decisions aren't always the best ones to be made. She's human and makes mistakes just like the rest of us. Add in the touch of police drama in trying to catch the human traffickers and it gets more interesting.
Perhaps the biggest weakness of the show is the full blown open mindedness of Kate. She accepts nearly everything that people decide to do, not only accepting but encouraging everything. With James she counsels him to carry on with who he wants to be ignoring the issues it might cause for his family. With same sex marriages you get the feeling she's happier for those couples than the others whose weddings she officiates. Her own personal views on marriage seem at odds to her own situation most of the time. But it is these weaknesses that make the character more human than most offered on series these days. They provide a depth to her.
But the show has a bigger weakness. That's the fact that there is no second season. By the time I finished watching this I wanted to know what happened after that last episode. And yet apparently not enough interest was garnered for it to go. How that can be after only 6 episodes is confounding. So for now we're presented with those episodes on disc to enjoy more than once. And my guess is that given the chance you will find the show as interesting and enjoyable as I did.
