ONE DAD TWO FAMILIES
A can of worms is opened when a mother discovers her late husband had a secret family in new BBC1 sitcom The Other One
Two sisters each unaware of the other’s existence and brought together after 30 years – it sounds like an episode of Long Lost Family. But when viewers watch The Other One, the only tears will be those of laughter.
This isn’t an emotional documentary but a BBC1 comedy, the brainchild of Motherland writer Holly Walsh and with a family unlike any other on TV. When Colin Walcott drops dead of a heart attack after his wife Tess, played by
The Thick Of It and War And Peace actress Rebecca Front, learns he has been cheating on her, it opens a can of worms.
Not only was there a long-term mistress, Marilyn (Happy Valley’s
Siobhan Finneran), but they had a daughter together, called Catherine. She is just five days younger than Tess’s own daughter – also called Catherine.
The result is a funny and touching look at family, class and loss.
‘Death is always a good one for comedy,’ says Holly, who co-wrote the series. ‘A friend told me this had happened to them – it emerged when the mother was in her 70s that the dad had another family and had called the kids the same names. Since the pilot went out so many people have come up to me to say, “This happened to me”. It’s more common than you think.’
Both Catherines have grown up thinking they are only children and have always wanted a sister. Tess’s daughter, known as Cathy and played by Ellie White (Princess Beatrice in The Windsors), has grown up spoiled and middle-class. She has a boring job in insurance and a needy fiancé who may have cheated on her.
Her new sister Cat (played by
BAFTA-winning Misfits actress Lauren Socha) hasn’t had the same advantages. She works for Deliveroo and has been through every man on Tinder. But she seems much happier.
The series also casts Caroline Quentin and Stephen Tompkinson as Tess’s sister and boyfriend. ‘We tackle difficult subjects,’ says Rebecca. ‘You can only play the truth of grief, but everything else is so mental and surreal that you have to laugh.’
The Other One, Friday, 9pm, BBC1.