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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mel O&#039;Drama" data-source="post: 191138" data-attributes="member: 23">Episodes 18-24In 2019, as in 1989, I’m watching this with Judy Nunn’s performance as Irene Fisher in mind (back then, her Sons and Daughters episodes were still airing for the first time in my ITV region as these H&A episodes ran). Now, as then, it’s incredibly gratifying to see her being given the more central role she thoroughly deserves. She’s captivating no matter what material she’s given. But Ailsa’s evasiveness hinting at something very dark and very big in her background means she’s got a role that makes best use of the gem they have in the cast.On paper it seems very sudden: at  the beginning of Episode Twenty, they’re still separated. But the end of the same episode, Alf has proposed. Twice. Thanks to great writing, the pacing of this relationship in particular (and the series in general) is perfect. There’s an unhurried, real-time atmosphere paired with enough events to titilate.The first of the double proposals was the gruff “dammit woman. Marry me” blustery type one would expect from Alf. After it was rejected, he came to her late at night, with a heartfelt proposal in the doorway of the darkened store. I was as moved as Ailsa.The celebrated with a very expensive bottle of Dom Perignon ‘53:With Ailsa, what’s not said is often more interesting than what is. So it’s that fourth bottle that grabs our attention. And Alf’s. When he asks about it, she mentions in that casual-but-mysterious way of hers, that it’s already been drunk “for the hell of it”. Alf swallows it. But we don’t. It’s enticing all right.Discussion of the four bottles is even more poignant with hindsight. Those final two bottles presumably now having been popped and drunk.The scene in which Alf awkwardly broke the news of the engagement to Roo turned out to be a winner. It went from sitcom to pathos in seconds. Ray Meagher did his nicest work on the series to date. With Roo’s stony silence, it was essentially a monologue. A series of Alf’s pleas to Roo, hoping she’d understand. His voice broke in all the right places.Roo’s manipulative side is really coming to the surface now, establishing her as the series’ bad girl. We’ve already seen her work Alf while sneaking round with Frank. Building on this perfectly was the scene in which she left a photo album of pictures of Alf and her late mother lying round exactly where he’d find them.The balance between manipulative bitch and spoilt kid is perfect. Thirty years ago I thought of Roo as the series’ youthful version of Pat The Rat. Fresh from a rewatch of Sons and Daughters, I’m not really feeling that. She’s getting there with the manipulation, but subtle she’s not. Neither, despite her bad girl vibe, is she quite Betty Anderson. She’s quite a different animal. In S&D terms, she’s part young Patricia Hamilton and part Leigh Palmer. And the situation with her hating her father’s new fiancé and finding allies in others is pure Jess Campbell. And yet she’s more watchable and even likeable than Leigh or Jess ever were. Even when she’s almost having sex with Frank simply to spite her father (the fact that she changed her mind on the first attempt is a detail I’d forgotten, and made Roo even more human).Roo’s primary ally in her quest to bring down Ailsa has turned out to be a character who is unseen and who will remain that way for a little while. But one whose influence will quickly begin impacting on the series from a distance. She first gets a mention in Episode Twenty Three:Not that Roo’s entirely without her own resources. She’s fairly adept at breaking and entering, scouring Ailsa’s flat and uncovering Ailsa and Donald’s affair,  accompanied by the first use of a favourite oft-used Mike Perjanik spacial bass pieces. And now Bobby’s found the card.continued...</blockquote>

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