If you have not watched an episode of Series One of Last Tango In Halifax, then I urge you to do so. Last year's biggest BBC new drama was a heartwarming, tragic, comedic and incredibly and joyfully watchable piece of television. Now the difficult second album has begun, and in my opinion, is as wonderful as the first outing. I do not wish to spoil anything, but the opening premise was that Yorkshire pensioners Alan and Celia, played wonderfully by acting royalty Derek Jacobi and Anne Reid, reunite after their childhood sweetheart days, finding each other again over Facebook, and gradually rekindling their deep felt love for one anther. They start to bring themselves and their lives together, and with them their wildly different and quite dysfunctional families.
Each unit is headed by the mothers, who initially struggle to see eye-to-eye on anything, but must work together to keep their families intact, and their ageing parents happy in love. Caroline, played by Sarah Lancashire, is the career-driven, upper middle class headteacher, who is maritally in turmoil, and is developing a new side to her personality and sexuality. Nicola Walker's Gillian is the struggling farmer who just wants to do right by her family. The ensuing farce and madness is both brilliantly written and acted, and ends on a tragic cliffhanger.
Now, in Series 2, the cliffhanger is resolved (again not wanting to give away too much) and the story looks to be moving forward with much of the same charm and warmth that seems to be setting Last Tango in Halifax as an ongoing hit.
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