Yet another serio-comedy from Carla Lane. This one dealt with the problems of a couple who, on the surface, seem to have everything but, underneath, remain unfulfilled. The lead character, Terese Craven, was a Lane heroine in the mould of Ria from Butterflies - indeed, comparisons between the two series are hard to avoid, but Luv was a harder, harsher idea and made for uncomfortable viewing at times.

Terese is in a comfortable marriage with a loving if distant husband, but inside she is being eaten alive by a desire to get more from life. She is unsure what she wants to do, and this uncertainty - combined with her dissatisfaction - results in extreme behaviour and a skewed viewpoint on life. Terese is married to a real-life 'flowerpot man', Harold - a wealthy, self-made businessman who became rich from the success of his flowerpot factory. Harold has lived to earn money and, now that they have plenty, cannot understand his wife's dissatisfaction, but typically for a man, he finds it easier to run away from the issue rather than confront it. Harold's low sperm-count has meant that the couple could not conceive children so they adopted three: Hannah Victor and Darwin. The first two have left home, Hannah to live with her Italian boyfriend Antonio, the gay Victor to reside with his lover Stephen. But Darwin, the youngest has stayed at home, where he seems to be wasting away, spending long, miserable periods in bed and only really being motivated by his membership of an animal-rights group (a subject close to Carla Lane's heart). Harold has tried hard as a father, but has shown his love by gifts of money and lavish presents rather than personal investment. This is how he treats Terese too, and this inability to give of himself rather than of his pocket is likely the root cause of all their problems.

From this structure Lane wove a complex, intense series that despite its seriousness, still featured many witty lines. As ever, she was not afraid to take the characters into some difficult areas - Harold had a brief but damaging affair with his secretary Eden, and Terese, well, she was in the thick of it: she found a lump in her body that she thought might be cancerous, she moved out to live alone at one point, and she contemplated divorce. Then Harold suffered financial problems and faced the collapse of his empire. The arrival of a grandchild, Hannah and Antonio's baby, did little to heal the wounds, but an attempt by the jilted Eden to gain revenge by seducing Darwin was thwarted.

Mark Lewisohn

Last Update: 07:01:2002