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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mel O&#039;Drama" data-source="post: 103581" data-attributes="member: 23">That's an excellent point. The more serious elements of the series bring depth to it and also make it feel evenly weighted. There's no sense of swinging wildly between funny and serious moments as may have been the tendency. Moments are allowed to be both at the same time. While I enjoyed some of the US Dramedy fad in the mid-Noughties (shows like Desperate Housewives and Ugly Betty), they could feel a little bipolar at times, and tended to tell the viewer through use of quirky music and extreme situations when we were supposed to laugh and when we were supposed to be hooked on the drama.I think Carla Lane's writing was complemented by the subtler elements of the production, too. I'm watching Butterflies with someone and during a conversation about it the other day he observed that there was no laughter on it. I'd thought there was (and it turns out there was) but I couldn't be certain and had to listen out for it because it's that inconspicuous, has lots of huge pauses and allows for the silence of more serious moments. Last night I watched one of the new Will & Grace episodes back-to-back with Butterflies and during a scene of an unpleasant revelation the audience made a loud, collective booing kind of sound which made the moment far less impactive for me.In the huge gap between the third and fourth series of Butterflies, I remember watching her playing lead in a period drama called Nanny. It's only recently that I discovered she also created the series. Apparently she used a pseudonym when pitching it to the BBC because she thought they may not take her seriously otherwise. I know more recently she's had a long - and presumably successful - run in another period drama The Royal. The only other series I remember watching her in is one I'd rather forget. She played Annie -  the Rose equivalent -  in Brighton Belles which was a short-lived British remake of The Golden Girls. I haven't seen the series since it first aired some twenty five years ago, but I do remember it felt very much like karaoke TV and had none of the charm and vibrant energy of the original.Two of Wendy's pre-Butterflies vehicles are on my Britcom bucket list: ...And Mother Makes Three and its sequel series ...And Mother Makes Five. Whenever I get round to watching, both will be completely new to me.Thanks - I suspect it will be a fairly short trip as I'm already midway through Series Two. I'm really trying to pace myself a little though.</blockquote>

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