(UN)HAPPY EVER AFTER?

Sean Bean and Nicola Walker are both brilliant as a long-married couple teetering on the verge of a break-up

He’s now with his fifth wife – so who better than Sean Bean to star in a drama focusing on the subject of marriage? But in this four-part series, the former heart-throb hero of Sharpe is playing a seemingly devoted family man who’s only ever had the one wedding.

Ian (Bean) and Emma (Nicola Walker, Unforgotten, The Split), both above, are soon to celebrate their 27th anniversary. They’ve suffered trials and tribulations along the way, including the scarring tragedy of losing a child.

Now they’re facing new troubles, with Ian experiencing a late midlife crisis after being made redundant, leaving him with enough time on his hands to start wondering jealously about what might be going on between Emma and her younger boss at the solicitors’ firm where she works.

They share joys in their lives too, not least seeing their grown-up daughter embarking on a singing career, and welcoming her back to the family home, where she introduces her new boyfriend.

Yet the heart of the drama here is less the particular intricacies of the story than the small but powerfully telling details that reveal just how a couple who have known each other for more than a quarter of a century manage to communicate and relate to each other – and how sometimes things still go very wrong between them.

Just take the farcical opening scene, in which Ian and Emma are grabbing a quick meal at an airport in Spain before boarding a flight home from holiday.

All should be well, except that Ian is given chips instead of the baked potato he wanted. That’s the start of a trivial yet increasingly bitter argument that continues even as the plane is taking off – until they wordlessly reach out their hands to each other across the aisle and peace is restored.

Bean was once an action-hero type, but after superb, Baftawinning work in recent years in Broken and Time, he now again confirms that he’s a master at exposing the vulnerable side of masculinity. Meanwhile, Walker conjures up Emma with utter conviction as a woman who can switch between brittle, nervous energy and astonishing warmth in a moment.

Created and scripted by Stefan Golaszewski – who has previously charted the nuances of relationships with brilliant wit and precision in Mum and Him & Her – this is a warts-and-all portrayal of marriage that any couples watching will identify with all too easily.