Sky One called it Bliss I called it hard work

I am not sure the television station meant to leave me in an utter bubble of joyous delight, but they were screening a comedy/drama called Bliss.

The plot is all about Andrew (Stephen Mangan) who is married to Kim (Heather Graham) with whom he has one child, a teenage daughter Christina (Hannah Millward) and has a long term partner Denise (Jo Hartley) with whom he has a son Kris (Spike White).

He has two families but one wife. Although in this, the first season he has said he would marry Denise, thereby he would commit bigamy, when he married her.

Throughout the six episodes we have learnt Andrew's back story and how he came to be in the position or dilemma he is today.

At the start of episode one, Andrew, tells us, the viewer how he has to separate his two lives in order to make sure the lies are kept going and the two women and his children are kept in the dark about his double life.

We saw in these episodes moments where his world, mainly due to kids started to encroach on each other.

We reached a cliff hanger where his wife and his partner were boarding the same cruise liner at the same time and there was nothing he could do-or could he as his voice said "And this was when I implemented plan B"....It ended, we await further developments.

Having watched all six episodes, I felt this had not been Bliss for me, it had been hard work and got harder each week.

I could not understand how Andrew had kept his secrets and lies going for years and how his two worlds had never collided before. But they were now getting closer to each other.

The odds of his two children who do not know each other meeting or even dating as it was alluded to in one episode would appear to me rather long odds.

Yes the two families are in the same city Bristol.

But why would he have two families in the same city? Surely he would have made sure they were separated by a good distance. He did in the first episode tell us how to be careful, how to make sure nobody could find out what he was doing. But then what he said was allowed to fall apart.

I found myself fast forwarding the programme, which I had recorded as I just did not believe it.

I could see where each scenario was ultimately heading and it was like driving a car straight into a wall and expecting the wall not be there every time I drove the car at the wall. This was not a good experience.

Was it a comedy? I did not laugh. Was it a drama? I did not feel the drama or tension.

You have to wonder where it is all going? Do the two women meet? Do they find out about him? If they do find out about him then the series is over. No need for any more.

If they don't meet, don't know about his double life, then what? Do the writers have to inject false drama into each episode to heighten what is not there?

I am unsure whether I will watch again. It doesn't seem worth the effort. Was calling the show Bliss being ironic as there was no bliss to Andrew's life but he still kept living it.

Maybe Bliss would be not to tune in again. A definition of Bliss is "perfect happiness; great joy". You won't find any of this in this television show.