Lilies: The Serpent

Lilies: The Serpent
BBC One
23 February 2007
Historical Drama
DVD
C

While I enjoyed the first half of this episode, from the farcical situation of various couples all going to the picture-house to the way that widower Dadda (who turns out to be 43 and named Nelson) opens up to the possibility of new love, things gradually go more and more off the rails in the second half.  Whether it's Iris, who not that long ago wanted a husband and children, deciding to become a nun and thus having a snake bite her, or May stringing along poor Frank, who's had a crush on her for ages, and restarting (yet again) with Mr. Brazendale, or worst of all, Dadda beating his pregnant daughter with a belt, it's like they've decided to throw established characterisation and plausibility out the window.  There's only one more episode left, so we'll see if they pull their act together again.