Rooting for the family, but not the financiers

▼ COME HOME (BBC1)

This drama tackled what some believe to be taboo – mothers who leave their children.

Mum Marie had walked out on her kids. Dad Greg had done a great job of bringing up their three children alone.

But, in the concluding third episode, Marie went to court. She wanted the children back and a bitter custody battle was taking place.

Christopher Eccleston and Paula Malcomson, as Greg and Marie, were utterly believable.

Some Northern Irish friends said Christopher’s Irish accent wasn’t convincing but, with my untuned ear, I didn’t notice.

It says a lot about both the acting and the storyline that even by episode three, I didn’t know who to root for.

Both Marie and Greg were decent people. Yet both were flawed, too, with faults aplenty. It made them all the more realistic.

The final scenes, when it was revealed Greg wasn’t the father of one of the children and Marie was awarded custody, were heartrending.

And the closing moments, showing their happy life before it all went wrong, were so very ordinary.

The whole series was a great study in how a normal, family can disintegrate into chaos and unhappiness.

Anyone hoping to be a relationship counsellor should be made to watch the series!

▼ Billions (sky atlantic)

We’re now on to the third series of this big-money show set in a world of high-finance dealers and lawyers who are chasing some morally dodgy characters.

Unlike the cast of Come Home, none of the characters is particularly likeable.

They’re all self-obsessed, scheming, and desperately trying to be top dog.

But the characters are so interesting and the plots so ridiculous, it keeps millions of us tuning in.