A Passionate Woman

Playwright Kay Mellor and filmmaker Antonia Bird co-directed this two-part BBC miniseries about a working-class woman who lived most of her life in quiet desperation. The story begins in the 1950s, when married Betty (Billie Piper) meets married Polish immigrant Craze (Theo James) at a town dance and discovers that both live in the same Leeds apartment complex. Craze doesn't mention his marital status, and the pair start to see each other on the side. While Betty is careful, Craze is reckless, while also keeping an erratic schedule, and appearing to be harboring secrets from the past. Although Betty becomes obsessed, the lazy afternoons come to an end when Craze finds a job and his wife, Moira (Kelly Harrison), becomes pregnant. Betty's dependable if undemonstrative husband, Donald (Joe Armstrong), saves up enough money to buy their own home, so they move to the suburbs, but Betty and Craze continue to correspond, although fate ultimately removes him from the picture. In the second half of the series, set during the 1980s, Betty (Sue Johnston) and Donald (Alun Armstrong) prepare to say goodbye to their grown son, Mark (Andrew Lee Potts), who's planning his own wedding; but his Australian fiancée, Jo (Anna Skellern), turns out to have an unexpected tie to Betty, forcing the latter to finally face the facts about her youthful affair. Viewers might want to keep the Kleenex handy for the cathartic finale. Recommended. (K. Fennessy)