Episodes
| Series | Episode | Title | First Broadcast | Repeated | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | 01 | Meet The Millers | 20110506 | A candid look at contemporary family through the prism of two North London siblings Lucy and Tom as they schlep between their determinedly hands-on parents. Lucy is excited about exploring surrealism, Tom is obsessively counting sultanas and their mum Mimi (Sarah Alexander) is desperate for her third attempt at married life to get started, but the children's father Joe (David Tennant) has come to a decision that will change their all their lives... If it's Wednesday... it must be Holloway Cast List: Joe - David Tennant Mimi - Sarah Alexander Tom - Finlay Christie Lucy - Phoebe Abbott Harry - Stuart Milligan Writer: Marcella Evaristi Director: Marilyn Imrie Producer: Gordon Kennedy An Absolutely Production for BBC Radio 4. Mimi awaits her third marriage to get going. Her ex Joe hates being a Dad once a fortnight Marcella Evaristi's sly take on contemporary parenting | |
| 01 | 02 | Sniffing Stevie And The Gym Horse | 20110513 | David Tennant and Sarah Alexander star as the exes determined their marital failures will not get in the way of good parenting. This week son Tom feels guilty about not wanting to be mates with a boy with a permanent snot bubble. The divorced pair confuse him about the morality of befriending losers. Meanwhile a visit to a tattoo parlour gives Lucy a great idea about getting some attention. Joe finds a new job and a visit to The Wellcome Institute provides Mimi with some useful information about Syphilis. If it's Wednesday... it must be Holloway... Cast List: Joe - David Tennant Mimi - Sarah Alexander Tom - Finlay Christie Lucy - Phoebe Abbott Bobby - Stephen Critchlow Stevie - Ben Baker Ms Smart - Morwenna Banks Donald - Gordon Kennedy Writer: Marcella Evaristi Director: Marilyn Imrie Producer: Gordon Kennedy An Absolutely Production for BBC Radio 4. Divorced parents Joe and Mimi confuse son Tom about the morality of befriending losers. Marcella Evaristi's sly take on contemporary parenting | |
| 01 | 03 | Commendation And Competition | 20110520 | David Tennant and Sarah Alexander star as the exes determined their marital failures will not get in the way of good parenting. Lucy gets inspired by art and creates her own Angel of the North London - but she is confused by Joe's refusal to take her to an exhibition of his own work. Meanwhile Mimi is stuck as usual with annoying Helen who overuses the word 'achingly', hits on Joe and is oddly pretending to find Tom's lame jokes a hoot. If it's Wednesday... it must be Holloway Cast List: Joe - David Tennant Mimi - Sarah Alexander Tom - Finlay Christie Lucy - Phoebe Abbott Katy - Ophelia Davidson Helen - Tracy-Ann Oberman Writer: Marcella Evaristi Director: Marilyn Imrie Producer: Gordon Kennedy An Absolutely Production for BBC Radio 4. Why won't Lucy's father take her to his own exhibition? Marcella Evaristi's sly take on contemporary parenting | |
| 01 | 04 | Befriending Freddie | 20110527 | David Tennant and Sarah Alexander star as the exes determined to be double not single parents and bring the kids up together apart. But Lucy needs compensation for moving house every week... If it's Wednesday it must be Holloway. It turns out Mimi's new husband says he is into fatherhood after all, and Lucy tells her Dad and Tom all about Mum's condition... Mimi is desperate to bring the kids to New York for the premiere of her new husband's play but Tom has found a new friend whose cute yogic mother Joe is drawn to... When Lucy refuses to miss out on her best friend's birthday because of a planned visit to her stepfather in New York, Mimi fails to get Joe's back-up. Cast List: Joe - David Tennant Mimi - Sarah Alexander Tom - Finlay Christie Lucy - Phoebe Abbott Jennifer - Emily Bruni Freddie - Oliver Dillon Harry - Stuart Milligan Writer: Marcella Evaristi Director: Marilyn Imrie Producer: Gordon Kennedy An Absolutely Production for BBC Radio 4. Mimi is delighted that her new husband wants to be a father, but Lucy has overheard. Marcella Evaristi's sly take on contemporary parenting | |
| 02 | 01 | The Break-up | 20120713 | 20120706 (R4) 20140723 (R4) | Marcella Evaristi's sly take on contemporary parenting looks at a divorced North London family through the prism of two go-betweening siblings. This week, Lucy prepares to dazzle the world with her Rihanna-influenced take on the part of Nancy in the school production of Oliver! - but her mum, armed with a new parenting manual, prepares to do battle with her daughter's impermeable belief in her own genius. Meanwhile, son Tom is appalled by his hated fictional alter ego, cutesy Georgie. Maybe if he garrottes his mother's puppet version of himself, she'll get the hint? Dad is determined to steer him away from the merchandise and takes him to see a wrestling match instead. Director: Marilyn Imrie Producer: Gordon Kennedy An Absolutely Production for BBC Radio 4. Armed with a new parenting manual, Mimi takes on her daughter's deluded self-esteem. |
| 02 | 02 | Happy Father's Day | 20120713 | 20140730 (R4) | Mark Bonnar and Sarah Alexander star as the exes determined to be double- not single-parents and bring their kids up together apart. But Lucy has noticed the difference between her affluent mum, a children's fiction writer, and her broke dad who has just started a new job with Your Pets Painted in the Afterlife.com. She figures her dad he needs a proper Father's Day present, and her tuba has served it's purpose of getting her into that good state school where she doesn't get bricks thrown at her head. So why not take a visit to the pawn shop? Her mum Mimi's young life was blighted by a no-show actor dad but she has fibbed to her kids, telling them her missing magical dad suffered from Dramnesia. When Tom discovers his granddad is starring in a stool-softening advert he invites him to visit. Won't his mum be delighted? Director: Marilyn Imrie Producer: Gordon Kennedy An Absolutely Production for BBC Radio 4. Tom discovers Grandad in a stool-softening ad. Lucy figures Dad needs a classy present. Marcella Evaristi's sly take on contemporary parenting |
| 02 | 03 | 20120720 | 20140806 (R4) | Mark Bonnar and Sarah Alexander star in Marcella Evaristi's comedy of shared parenting. Mimi and Joe are determined to be the best kind of divorced parents, supportive and as good as any traditional set up. Mimi has even salvaged her ex's best suit from the charity shop where it was meanly dumped by Joe's most recent ex-wife. But Joe keeps getting misdirected post from the fetish shop across the road and Mimi cannot keep her prying fingers away from a big fat intriguing parcel. Meanwhile their daughter Lucy has discovered an ethical way of eating that does not involve putting Quorn in her mouth - because her hero Mark Zuckerberg has said eating meat is not immoral if you catch your own dinner. So Lucy is going to steal a chicken. From a back garden in Highgate. It's a brilliant plan, especially since she has told her brother Tom he is saving the chicken bound for a battery farm. But what are all those funny handcuffs doing on her dad's sitting room floor? Director: Marilyn Imrie Producer: Gordon Kennedy An Absolutely Production for BBC Radio 4. Lucy has found an ethical way of eating meat, thanks to Mark Zuckerberg. Marcella Evaristi's sly take on contemporary parenting | |
| 02 | 04 | Under The Same Night Stars | 20120727 | 20140813 (R4) | Lucy is despairing about the future of the planet - until she meets a cute boy with a moped. But Tom is in a huff with his family and inventing imaginary parents because he is not allowed to see his best friend Freddy. When Freddy runs away it's left to Lucy to save the day. Thank goodness her mum never uses that porcini filled writing shed. Written by Marcella Evaristi. Director: Marilyn Imrie Producer: Gordon Kennedy An Absolutely Production for BBC Radio 4. Lucy is in despair about the planet's future and Tom's best friend runs away from home. Marcella Evaristi's sly take on contemporary parenting |
| 02 | 05 | Sex, Guns And Frida Kahlo | 20120803 | 20140820 (R4) | Mimi and Joe are in a state of conflicted liberal anguish because Lucy is growing up too fast. She wants a sexy Halloween costume to dazzle her boyfriend, but Joe talks her into going to a party dressed as Frida Kahlo. Meanwhile Joe's wily mother sorts out her son's vindictive and most recent ex-wife, the radical rug designer. Written by Marcella Evaristi Director: Marilyn Imrie Producer: Gordon Kennedy An Absolutely Production for BBC Radio 4. Mimi and Joe turn to the latest parenting theory when their daughter Lucy gets a boyfriend Marcella Evaristi's sly take on contemporary parenting |
| 02 | 06 | The Next Story | 20120810 | 20140827 (R4) | Tom and Lucy are furious they are not allowed a dog. Their parents say that when kids go between two households it's too complicated. But their mum and dad's love lives are even more tangled. After all, Tom has seen his parents kissing. So where does that leave their mum's new third husband, and the unstable pet shop owner their dad has been secretly dating? Written by Marcella Evaristi Director: Marilyn Imrie Producer: Gordon Kennedy An Absolutely Production for BBC Radio 4. Lucy and Tom are not allowed a dog, but their dad is seeing an unstable pet shop owner. Marcella Evaristi's sly take on contemporary parenting |
| 03 | 01 | 20131018 | Marcella Evaristi's bittersweet take on divorced parenting looks at a north London family through the prism of two go-betweening siblings. Starring Sarah Alexander as Mimi and Mark Bonnar as Joe, their arrangement comes under strain - newly divorced Mimi is blaming Joe for the failure of her third marriage. But it's hard to establish a regime of minimum contact with her children's father when the new dog has to attend puppy classes. And no one can decide on his name. Mimi has decided to branch into teenage fiction but, when the kids discover they are being used as copy, they mutiny. Lucy pretends to have an eating disorder and lies that Tom is now bed-wetting. But Mimi is set on her new writing venture. She's calling it The Gobetweenies and it's all about urban puberty. Mimi's agent Ruby disapproves. She tells Lucy and Tom about Philip Roth and his warnings on the fall out of writing about your own family. But when Tom starts reading Portnoy, he gets wonderfully inspired. Written by Marcella Evaristi Director: Marilyn Imrie Producer: Gordon Kennedy An Absolutely production for BBC Radio 4. Mimi branches into teenage fiction. But what's the best name for a go-betweening dog? Marcella Evaristi's sly take on contemporary parenting | ||
| 03 | 02 | 20131025 | Mimi is having a hard time. She's freshly divorced and scared of her eggs going stale so she's decided to freeze them. But she didn't realise she had to give herself hormone injections. What's the divorced etiquette of asking an ex-husband to inject your torso? And how come she's not the favourite parent? Could it be because she was a complete failure trying to convince the mother of Tom's best friend that skateboarding was safe? Joe is flailing too. And very broke. When Lucy sees him posing at her life drawing class she bolts. Does he think he can do a Lena Dunham and go naked at his age? She switches her allegiance to Mimi and gives her a make-over that turns her into Ernie from Sesame Street. Meanwhile Tom is still proud of Dad. Joe talked Jennifer into letting Freddy skateboard. But his mum makes him wear so much protective gear he and Tom look like Team Pathetic. And with his big chrome bucket of a helmet, Freddy looks like Darth Vader - but stupid. Now the pair of them get pelted with KFC cartons and cans. Maybe Mum can help. If she can recover from the smell of the vegan dog food Jennifer has given her. Cast: Joe...................Mark Bonnar Mimi..................Sarah Alexander Tom..................Finlay Christie Lucy..................Phoebe Abbott Tuberose..........Charlotte Richie Jennifer.............Emily Bruni Freddie..............Harry Nowell Writer: Marcella Evaristi Director: Marilyn Imrie Producer: Gordon Kennedy An Absolutely production for BBC Radio 4. Freshly divorced Mimi freezes her eggs and broke Joe's actions spark a choice by Lucy. Marcella Evaristi's sly take on contemporary parenting | ||
| 03 | 03 | 20131101 | Lucy is driving rational science-loving Tom crazy with her passion for astrology. She tries to convince him by swishing her magnificent Leo hair at him. With her brother mercilessly mocking her gullibility, Lucy decides to read Tom's book, Exploring the Night Sky. When she discovers that starlight comes from extinct stars she has an existential crisis made worse by a recent visit to a ghoulish exhibition about grave robbers and dissectionists. Now she knows the awful truth - the sky is haunted and worse, she herself is actually mortal. It's very hard being fifteen and finite. Tom's head is also full of the Burke and Hare-type crimes he learned about at the exhibition. And, when he overhears a late night conversation between his dad Joe and his old school friend, he begins to harbour terrifying suspicions. The old friend, Leon, is a vet and Joe makes a meagre living working for YourPetsPaintedintheAfterlife.com. Tom is convinced that his Dad's old school friend is putting down healthy animals so that Joe can profit from doing their afterlife portraits. Sweeney Dad the Demon Painter! When Lucy finds out that Tom's rationality and science swottery has led him to insane conclusions, she exacts her own sweet revenge. Cast: Joe................................Mark Bonnar Mimi........................Sarah Alexander Tom............................Finlay Christie Lucy...........................Phoebe Abbott Leon................................Dave Lamb Writer: Marcella Evaristi Director: Marilyn Imrie Producer: Gordon Kennedy An Absolutely production for BBC Radio 4. Rational Tom mocks Lucy's passion for astrology but harbours a suspicion about Joe. Marcella Evaristi's sly take on contemporary parenting | ||
| 03 | 04 | 20131108 | Episode Four of Marcella Evaristi's comedy explores the impossibility of retaining your privacy when you lead a go-betweening life. Joe had wanted to keep his new affair secret. His new girlfriend is twenty four and he now wishes he hadn't called Mimi's most recent ex-husband the Decrepit from Connecticut. Mimi is being badgered about bringing a 'plus one' to a wedding. She's in a state of post divorce fragility and begins to wonder if Joe still secretly longs for her. After all, he brought her lilacs on their wedding anniversary. Tom, already burdened by having to pretend he doesn't know about Tuberose, his Dad's hot new girlfriend, dreams confusingly and guiltily about the wrong girl. Not his girlfriend Poppy, but Lucy's fifteen year old best friend Katy. He's been talking in his sleep. How do you cope with a leaking subconscious? Meanwhile, having discovered that Tuberose works at Latex Couture of Holloway, Mimi is talked into checking her out. Writer: Marcella Evaristi Director: Marilyn Imrie Producer: Gordon Kennedy An Absolutely production for BBC Radio 4. Joe tries to keep his new affair a secret and Tom has erotic dreams about the wrong girl. Marcella Evaristi's sly take on contemporary parenting | ||
| 03 | 05 | 20131115 | Joe has had to cancel a holiday with his girlfriend and it's Mimi's fault. So Mimi gets no back up when she wants to get the dog fixed and stop Lucy wearing latex. Their friend Bobby (Stephen Critchlow) is fed up listening to them squabble because he has a real problem - his son Stevie is stonewalling him. Bobby even offers to help out so Joe can go to Barcelona to be with Tuberose - but Joe is enjoying the moral high ground and loves seeing Mimi up to her neck in his brownie points. Mimi broke her arm when she went to check out Tuberose at Latex Couture of Holloway and now she can't can't type, floss or fasten her bra. When she complains of the pain, Lucy thinks it must be to do with the weight of her low hanging bosom. She is trying to soft soap her mum so she is allowed to wear the latex dress for the school Springtime Fashionista contest. Science-loving Tom hates superstition but he is so undone by Poppy's coldness that he decides to start saying Good Morning Mr Magpie and he even steals Lucy's lucky mascot. And it turns out that Mr Hanky, the South Park Christmas Poo, saves the day. The anguish of the Millers has been healed by a cloth turd. Writer: Marcella Evaristi Director: Marilyn Imrie Producer: Gordon Kennedy An Absolutely production for BBC Radio 4. Joe has to cancel a romantic holiday with his girlfriend, sparking more problems for Mimi. Marcella Evaristi's sly take on contemporary parenting | ||
| 03 | 06 | 20131122 | Tom's girlfriend Poppy has left him for Stevie - once a friendless snotball but now fit and much-fancied - but Tom is channelling Einstein to get his girl back, because Albert proved that linear time is a delusion and that everything that happens is still happening. And if that's true, Tom has no reason to move on. So Tom is keeping early morning vigil outside Poppy's house holding up placards relating to quantum theory. His parents, Mimi and Joe, are worried. Is their son a little genius with a post-Newtonian grasp on the nature of time or a nutjob? On different days, Tom pretends to be different ages to escape the tyranny of time - it's all part of his quantum theory girlfriend retrieval strategy. As Lucy's boyfriend Chris says, Tom is not clever in any way that helps. Meanwhile Chris is causing Lucy problems. He says he empathizes with Tom because he knows the trauma of a broken heart. He tells her he once wrote heartbroken love songs to his ex-girlfriend Erica - the very same Erica that is currently rehearsing Titania to his Bottom. Lucy feels romantically demoted and asks her mother what she should do. Mimi advises doing nothing but Lucy figures Tom did nothing about Poppy's roving eye and now her brother is riding on his mind rocket to quantum town. Cast: Joe...................Mark Bonnar Mimi.................Sarah Alexander Tom..................Finlay Christie Lucy.................Phoebe Abbott Chris and Older Tom........Daniel Boyd Writer: Marcella Evaristi Director: Marilyn Imrie Producer: Gordon Kennedy An Absolutely production for BBC Radio 4. Tom is channeling Einstein to get his girl back, but Lucy has had enough of her boyfriend. Marcella Evaristi's sly take on contemporary parenting |