INARTICULATE SPEECH OF THE HEART (MARRIAGE)

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It's easy to grasp why there might be two schools of thought on the BBC"s four part series 'Marriage'.

To some it is a refreshing slice of life drama about a typical middle aged English couple.

Others are simply of the view that the show is mundane.

Whether you like Stefan Golazewski's series or not probably depends on your expectations of TV drama.

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Nicola Walker and Sean Bean star as Emma and Ian - a couple wrestling with demons from the present and the past.

At the start of the show, they are returning from holiday and are in an airport getting fast food.

He's a nervous flier. 

They chatter about the airport outlet charging Emma for ketchup and then bicker about why she did not get a jacket potato for him and just chips.

Golazewski's drama is very much from the "show, don't tell" school of writing, so the audience is left to decipher what is really going on with Emma and Ian as they go about their business.

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Emma works in a law firm for an obnoxious, flashy boss, Henry Lloyd-Hughes' Jamie who sneers at Ian but has his own demons.

She has ambitions to improve the firm's website but Jamie isn't really all that interested.

Emma is excited about going to a two day conference with Jamie to network with people from other legal practices but, like Ian, you suspect he could have ulterior motives.

Her relationship with her father, James Bolam's Gerry is also strained.

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Living on his own, he can be very demanding - even calling her away from a wedding anniversary dinner to fix him something to eat - and he's not that appreciative.

Gerry also has little regard for his son-in-law.

Ian, however, has recently suffered a double blow in his life.

He's lost his elderly mum to cancer and also his job, paying for the holiday from some of his redundancy.

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Applying for jobs, he struggles to pass the day - going to the gym, painting garden furniture or ordering a bread maker online.

Of the two, Ian appears more lost and during a visit to the leisure centre, he freaks out Ella Augustine's receptionist Maxine by being a bit too friendly.

The couple are still nursing the wounds of losing a baby boy early in their marriage, Nicholas years ago - something they rarely talk about.

But the apple of their eye is Chantelle Allen's Jessica, their adopted daughter who is trying to carve out a career as a singer-songwriter by gigging in pubs.

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Inviting her and her music producer boyfriend, Jack Holden's Adam round for dinner, they find him overbearing and rude.

We see Adam try to browbeat Jessica into doing exactly what he wants, warning her after the meal that he is not getting into another relationship with a girl who always sides with her dad.

With Emma withholding details about the two day conference from him, Ian becomes increasingly suspicious of what might be going on.

But will his frustrations erupt?

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If you want action and adventure, Golazewski's drama is not the show for you.

'Marriage' is written for those who want something more recognisable -something much more like the life they lead.

It is for those who like actors who can reflect their lives and there is no doubt that Nicola Walker and Sean Bean are two of the finest exponents of small screen, slice of life drama in England today.

Emma and Ian are so beautifully made flesh by both actors, they are instantly recognisable.

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Their conversations skirting around real emotions and their regular recourse to sarcasm are just the sort of chat you might hear in an airport or a supermarket.

Their more intimate brushes with their emotions are what you might expect them to say in a kitchen, bedroom or a living room.

Their glowing pride at Jessica is the love a lot of parents feel their kids - no matter what age they are.

There's a strong sense in Golazewski's drama, which he also directs, that men and women in Ian and Emma's circumstances struggle.

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However the men in 'Marriage' are a lot worse at dealing with those emotions.

Ian often struggles to know what to say in social situations and even around his own family which can result in people misinterpreting him as boring or just odd.

He has a tendency to hover around people, struggling to find something to say - even sometimes with Emma and Jessica - and when he does speak, it can be quite bland.

Bean does a fantastic job conveying Ian's loneliness and sense of inadequacy.

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Gerry is also lonely and seems unwilling to find the right words for Emma.

Jamie's inability to confront his own issues results in aggression and, at his worst moments, self-destructive behaviour.

In many ways he is reminiscent of Greg Cuttwell's insufferable yuppie landlord in Mike Leigh's 'Naked'.

And the shadow of Leigh's bleakest movies hangs over Golazewski's series.

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'Gangs of London' or 'The Falcon and The Winter Soldier,' it ain't.

'Marriage' is a drama for a niche audience - an audience who likes to watch good actors doing ordinary things extraordinarily well.

And they all do that from Walker and Bean to Bolam, Allen, Lloyd-Hughes and Holden.

It is well made, well written and terrifically acted - even if it will be too close to home for some.

('Marriage' was broadcast on BBC1on August 14-22, 2022)