For mums, nit watch is all in the line of duty
IF you want to see how Line of Duty villain Patricia Carmichael copes with the school run (not well), tune in to the third series of this excellent comedy starring Anna Maxwell Martin.
A brilliantly-observed school gate sitcom, created by a team including Sharon Horgan, it has a talented ensemble cast including Lucy Punch and Diane Morgan.
And in an inspired piece of casting, Joanna Lumley is due to pop up in the series as mother to smug mum Amanda (Punch), while Natalie Cassidy appears as a clueless teaching assistant.
In this episode, a nit pandemic sweeps the school and Julia (Maxwell Martin) finds herself accused of triggering a second wave.
With all the kids on her daughter’s table now sent home for the week, Julia is ostracised by the other mums and needs to find her way back into their good books.
Meanwhile, Kevin
(Paul Ready) wants to reconnect with his wife
Jill, but a chain of events leads to a terrible crime of passion in which he locks her in the loft.
“She’s only got two San Pellegrino and a Babybel in the mini fridge,” he despairs.
Anne (Philippa Dunne) has some big news, which she unwisely shares with Amanda.
Meanwhile, Meg (Tanya Moodie) and her husband Bill (Anthony Head) are facing a crisis, and Liz (Morgan) waits for news about a career move.
But worst of all, Julia’s mother Marion (Ellie Haddington) has had a health setback and needs to live with her for a while… cue nervous breakdowns all round.