Thursday 28 May 2009

Personal Affairs

They say two's company, three's a crowd but four is a party. And boy is it some party; we only have to look at musical legends such as The Beatles and Abba to prove that point. Other famous posses derive from TV such as The Golden Girls, Desperate Housewives, the ladies from BBC drama, Mistresses and of course those minxes from Sex and the City (S&TC) - who are probably the most famous foursome of all. It seems that women work best when they are in groups of four. Hence the new series, Personal Affairs which is about the lives and loves of four PA's working in London. The offbeat drama delves into the lives of Lucy Baxter, Midge Lermer, Doris (Sid) Siddiqi and Nicole Palmerston-Amory as they try and deal with the pressures and imbalance of working in an investment bank. Lucy is a open and warm lady who lacks real confidence, Midge is a can do girl who yearns to be famous, Nicole is an independent chick who very rarely lets her guard down and Sid is a repressed intellectual snob who cannot believe she has ended up as a PA.

Personal Affairs aims to show what life is really like for PAs working in the city who earn a fraction of what their bosses do yet are expected to carry a lot of their workload. Scriptwriter, Gabbie Asher who previously worked on EastEnders is well aware of the perils that face PAs as she used to be one herself.

"For me, Personal Affairs truly captures the unique experience of working in an office with a group of girls – the fun, the friendship, the bickering, the hopes and dreams, the tears and the personal dilemmas that arise every day. Friendship is at the heart of this drama as the girls help one another navigate through a myriad of life choices, with varying success!

"There is nothing more glorious than being in the company of friends who you know will support you and tell you the truth, whether you want to hear it or not. For me, the Personal Affairs workplace in this drama is the dream office. You'll want to work alongside Midge, Lucy, Nicole, Sid and Grace, share stories with them and be friends with them because these girls genuinely care about one another, even though their personalities are poles apart."

We have spent years looking for the Brit S&TC, we thought Mistresses might do it but the characters lacked the charm or pizazz to hold a candle to our beloved show. With a group of cracking characters on board, Personal Services might just be the one.

Personal Services airs on BBC Three later this year.

4 cool comments:

Kwana said...

This sounds interesting.

Haute World said...

I haven't heard of this show, but I'd be curious to see it. I'm guessing it will be different than anything out there (more realistic and not overly glamorous). It's funny - I never thought about it, but you're right that everything seems to come in fours. Even the SATC spin-offs like Cashmere Mafia and Lipstick Jungle didn't deviate from this.

Anonymous said...

could be good. plz let me know and i'll get it on dvd in the months to come - i no longer have tv!

i still miss SsTC!

Ondo Lady said...

Kwana - Yes it sounds great, I think I saw an advert for it last week and it looked really gripping.

The Haute-Shopper - All things do come in fours. Yes you are right Cashmere Mafia and Lipstick Jungle were inspired by Sex and the City.

Migratingfishswim - I will indeed fill you in on whether it is good or not. Although I am sure you can catch it on BBC iPlayer.