Phyllis Logan
Widower Tom, on the recent passing of his wife Mary, uses his free bus pass to travel the length of Britain from John O’Groats in Scotland to Land’s End in Cornwall, their shared birthplace, using only local buses. It’s an incident-fuelled nostalgia trip and his encounters with local people make him a media phenomenon. Tom is totally unaware and to his surprise on arrival at Land’s End he’s greeted as a celebrity.
The adventures of the eponymous Lovejoy, a likeable but roguish antiques dealer based in East Anglia. Within the trade, he has a reputation as a “divvie”, a person with an almost supernatural powers for recognising exceptional items as well as distinguishing genuine antique from clever fakes or forgeries.
TRUE STORY: A group of women hatch a plan to disrupt the 1970 Miss World beauty competition in London.
Two young, strong-willed Scottish sisters, one a left-wing activist, the other a most-popular-girl-in-school type, take their late father’s ashes to Cuba, the site of many family legends of his services to the Revolution. Arriving in Havana, the two women promptly lose the ashes and go through a series of misadventrues – both romantic and dangerous – to try to retrieve them. A colourful and wryly humourous tale of cross-cultural misunderstandings and lost illusions.
The story of British-Asian junior doctor Ruby Walker who arrives at the run-down Good Karma Hospital to join a dedicated team of over-worked medics. Run by a gloriously eccentric Englishwoman, Lydia Fonseca, this under-funded but creatively resourceful cottage hospital is the beating heart of the local community. It’s much more than just a medical outpost – it’s a home.
A middle-aged London factory worker (Blethyn) is shocked when the mixed-race daughter she gave up at birth decides to track her down. At first she denies she is her mother. All family members become emotional, as everyone’s secrets are exposed.
Grave robbers supply a doctor with bodies to test on.
Martin Freeman is lovelorn teacher Mr Maddens, a former am-dram star whose girlfriend (Ashley Jensen) dumped him over Christmas five years ago and upped sticks, inexplicably, to La-La Land. Yuletide cheer is not his forte, but he’s forced to drum some up when Pam Ferris’s headmistress earmarks him to direct the Nativity play.