T.V. Review: "Single Father" (2010)

On Friday night, I finally got around to watching "Single Father," a 2010 U.K. series starring David Tennant. After his wife, Rita, is killed when her bicycle is hit by a speeding police car that runs a red light, Dave struggles to maintain his complex family structure --- he has a daughter from a previous marriage, Rita had a daughter before they met --- who now wants to meet her biological father --- and they had three children together. As the story unfolds and with some separation of time, Dave must figure out how to move on, and come to terms that his wife had kept secrets from him. An incidental kiss with Rita's best friend, Sarah (Suranne Jones) promises to further complicate his life.

I had only intended to watch the first of four hour-long parts on Friday, but it was really addictive. The screenplay at several junctures seemed a little too tightly woven, but there always has to be a suspension of disbelief mixed with just accepting the plot and watching the story as it plays out. Regardless, the tight weave does nothing to detract from the quality of the story-telling. As much as it begins with a tragedy, this series has a fair amount of humor joining the drama.

Owing to his time on "Doctor Who" and a great turn as Hamlet in 2009, I have become a big fan of David Tennant. (Well, of his acting. I agree not a whit with his overt political views. But hey, nobody's perfect.) He brings so much energy into his craft, he acts with his eyes in ways that few others do, and there's a kind of je ne sais quoi that's just beneath the surface that fine-tunes the precise amount of zaniness for his characters. "Single Father" is a bit of a departure for Tennant, playing a normal person in a normal --- though a bit convoluted --- circumstance apart from previous roles as a Time Lord and the gravitas of the Danish Prince (Tennant has the best performance of the 'To be or not to be' soliloquy that I have ever seen). I think I ought to own up to the fact that as much as they may be looked down upon among machismo males, I've come to rather enjoy these kind of dramas. But I will mitigate this is by saying this series is by no means like the dreck dramas on the Lifetime network. In several ways, with obvious points of departure, it is like a Scottish take on Steve Carrell's enjoyable "Dan in Real Life." It ended in a self-contained manner, and at this point BBC has no plans for a second series. I'd really suggest it for someone looking for a short series.