The most unlikely twist: a mistress with integrity

AS Soon as mistress Kate (Jodie Comer,

pictured) appeared in season one, we loathed her. After all, whether she’s playing this role in fiction or real life, the mistress is, by definition, always the guilty party.

Yet, in a departure from the traditional panto villainess role, Kate has emerged as the only leading character with a shred of integrity or dignity, writes behaviour al psychologist Jo He mm ings.

Indeed, last week, when she walked away from the wretched and chaotic mess created by her husband and his ex, it was tempting to congratulate her quietly for being the only person in this debacle to act with real decorum — and in the interests of someone other than herself.

Yes, she inflicted significant damage on Gemma and Simon’s relationship, but her crime becomes almost nothing compared with the pain and mayhem visited on the casualties of the ugly war that ensued.

When Kate replaced Gemma in Simon’s life, he had told her his wife couldn’t make him happy and didn’t understand him. Yes, that old chestnut. Like many women, Kate persuaded herself: ‘Well, I can and I do.’ But, as is often the case in a real-life love affair, Kate is only getting one side of the story. Finally she sees she is duped, and she slips away. In the real world, not many second wives have the financial means to do as Kate did — to walk away and rescue her two-year-old daughter from the prospect of being used as a pawn in a disintegrating relationship, like Tom was. It wasn’t just her father’s wealth that enabled her to extricate herself from this madness so decisively. Many women in Kate’s position would cling to the wreckage of the relationship, unable to bear the thought of being seen to have lost in any way. She overcame that natural response. And it’s perhaps in that respect that Kate Foster comes out of all this appearing to be the strongest, and most plausible, character of all.