This BBC series doesn’t know if it wants to be a sitcom, a soap opera, a tribute to political correctness, or a continuation of hackneyed gender stereotypes. Emmy nominee Ashley Jensen stars as Kate, a registrar in the English city of Leeds, where she is responsible for birth, marriage, and death certificates. Kate tends to take a little extra interest in her work, from performing a marriage for a woman dying in a hospice, to cueing her police officer live-in boyfriend to a potential scam involving immigrants trying to gain residency through sham marriages. Kate’s home life is complex--she has two teenage children with her boyfriend, but he’s estranged from his wife, and his son from that marriage lives with them. Complicating matters is Kate’s attraction to a handsome co-worker, which challenges her domestic union. There is also a jealous female co-worker who goes into full-throttle fury when she gets passed over for a promotion in favor of Kate, plus a male colleague who abruptly announces that he is transitioning into a woman. The episodes ping-pong between dumb laughs--Kate whacks her stepson with a cricket bat when she mistakes him for a late-night intruder, a couple seeking a birth certificate wants to name their infant daughter Chlamydia--and sticky-sweet melodrama, and the performances seem a bit over-caffeinated. Compiling all six episodes from 2017, extras include a behind-the-scenes featurette and a cast Q&A. Optional. (P. Hall)
Love, Lies & Records
RLJ, 2 discs, 360 min., not rated, DVD: $39.99 Volume 33, Issue 3
Love, Lies & Records
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