''Other People's Children'' is a four-episode 2000 British television drama, adapted by Leigh Jackson from

Joanna Trollope Joanna Trollope (; born 9 December 1943) is an English writer. She has also written under the pseudonym of Caroline Harvey. Her novel ''Parson Harding's Daughter'' won in 1980 the Romantic Novel of the Year Award by the Romantic Novelists' Asso ...

's 1998 novel of the same name. The series tells the story of how three women and two men deal with new marriages and the consequences of the new spouses or partners having to deal with their partner's children of different ages from previous marriages.

Plot

When Josie (

Emma Fielding Emma Georgina Annalies Fielding (born 07 October 1964 in Catterick, North Riding of Yorkshire) is an English actress. Biography The daughter of a British Army officer, Colonel Johnny Fielding, and Sheila Fielding, she was raised Catholic and ...

) marries Matthew (

Frank Harper Frank Harper (born 12 December 1962) is an English actor and film producer. He is best known for his "hard man" roles, such as Billy Bright in '' The Football Factory'' (2004) and Dog in ''Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels'' (1998). Career F ...

), she already has a child, eight-year-old Rufus (Jacob Engelberg), from her previous marriage to Tom (

Denis Lawson Denis Stamper Lawson (born 27 September 1947) is a Scottish actor and director. He is known for his roles as John Jarndyce in the BBC's adaptation of ''Bleak House (2005 TV serial), Bleak House'', as Gordon Urquhart in the film ''Local Hero (f ...

). But Josie's patient determination crumbles as Matthew's three children turn against both her and Rufus. Things seem at first to be a lot easier for Josie's ex-husband, Tom, an

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

who has two other children besides Rufus (Tom's first wife died when his children were small). Tom has a new partner, the calm, reasonable high-management career woman Elizabeth ( Serena Gordon), whom Rufus (who visits Tom regularly) seems to like rather well. However, it's Tom's 25-year-old daughter, Dale (

Emilia Fox Emilia Rose Elizabeth Fox (born 31 July 1974) is an English actress and presenter whose film debut was in Roman Polanski's film '' The Pianist''. Her other films include the Italian–French–British romance-drama film ''The Soul Keeper'' (20 ...

), who can't bear to see her father in love, and moves back in with him in order to disrupt the romance and their possible future marriage. Indeed, Dale had earlier managed to drive away Josie. Meanwhile, Matthew's former wife, Nadine (

Lesley Manville Lesley Ann Manville (born 12 March 1956) is an English actress known for her frequent collaborations with Mike Leigh, appearing in the films ''Grown-Ups'' (1980), '' High Hopes'' (1988), '' Secrets & Lies'' (1996), ''Topsy-Turvy'' (1999), '' A ...

), very bitter after the divorce and living on very little income, has moved to the countryside, taking over a half-dilapidated old house. Her children leave the relative comfort of their home in order to escape their father's new wife, Josie, only to find themselves in deprived circumstances. The story moves back and forth between Josie, Nadine and Elizabeth. The stories eventually play themselves out: Elizabeth breaks the relationship with Tom, Matthew's children come to accept Josie, and Nadine finally makes peace with her countryside existence, even being befriended by a local farmer, with implications of a possible future romance.

Award nominations

For her role as Nadine, Lesley Manville was nominated for Best Actress in the 2001

Royal Television Society Awards The Royal Television Society (RTS) is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present, and future. It is the oldest television society in the world. It currently has fourteen r ...

External links

* 2000 British television series debuts 2000 British television series endings 2000s British drama television series BBC television dramas 2000s British television miniseries Television shows based on British novels English-language television shows Television shows set in Somerset {{BBC-tv-prog-stub