In this series Sheridan Smith's character is an office cleaner called Sam who works in a stock broker's office. One night she over hears an office worker called Blake (Doc Brown) on the phone talking about a company who's shares are about to go up. And that's when Sam and her friend Jess (Jade Anouka) decide to put a listening device in Blake's office so they can listen to all the information about who's shares will go up. During the part where Sam and Jess plant the listening device the series gets intense, but the side plots drag this series out and make me think that this would have worked better as a mini series of 3-4 episodes or a 90-120 minute film.
One side plot that doesn't work is Sam's gambling addiction because this just makes her an unlikeable character, because any money she gets, including money from her ex-husband's Mum that she was supposed to use to get a present for her youngest daughter, she just gambles away.
Other side plots include two about Sam's other daughter (Alice - Kirsty Philipps) who is 15 years old and is dating a 17 year old man despite the fact that Sam and ex-husband (Dave - Matthew McNulty) don't want her to. And another about Alice finding out about her Mum's gambling addiction and trying to help her.
And there is also another side plot about a loan shark called Warren (Neil Maskell) who is constantly chasing Sam for the thousands of pounds that she owes him.
But one of side plots that works well is when Sam tries to make a bit extra money by making her daughter's sleep in the same bedroom so she she has a spare bedroom to sub-let behind her Landlady's back. This works because she lets it out to a guy called Glyn (Roberts Emms) who is a very funny character. One funny thing in particular that Glyn does is develop a crush on Jess after helping her and Sam with the listening device and Sam lies to him and says that they're going to use it to spy on Jess' boyfriend who she thinks is cheating on her.
But even though these side plots do drag the series out I did find some bits of the series intense, especially when Sam has to keep lying to make sure she doesn't get caught. I also found the last episode very intense because Sam has to think fast to stop her whole plan from falling apart. The last episode also leaves the door open for a second series which I would like to see.
One side plot that doesn't work is Sam's gambling addiction because this just makes her an unlikeable character, because any money she gets, including money from her ex-husband's Mum that she was supposed to use to get a present for her youngest daughter, she just gambles away.
Other side plots include two about Sam's other daughter (Alice - Kirsty Philipps) who is 15 years old and is dating a 17 year old man despite the fact that Sam and ex-husband (Dave - Matthew McNulty) don't want her to. And another about Alice finding out about her Mum's gambling addiction and trying to help her.
And there is also another side plot about a loan shark called Warren (Neil Maskell) who is constantly chasing Sam for the thousands of pounds that she owes him.
But one of side plots that works well is when Sam tries to make a bit extra money by making her daughter's sleep in the same bedroom so she she has a spare bedroom to sub-let behind her Landlady's back. This works because she lets it out to a guy called Glyn (Roberts Emms) who is a very funny character. One funny thing in particular that Glyn does is develop a crush on Jess after helping her and Sam with the listening device and Sam lies to him and says that they're going to use it to spy on Jess' boyfriend who she thinks is cheating on her.
But even though these side plots do drag the series out I did find some bits of the series intense, especially when Sam has to keep lying to make sure she doesn't get caught. I also found the last episode very intense because Sam has to think fast to stop her whole plan from falling apart. The last episode also leaves the door open for a second series which I would like to see.