New places, but the same old faces.

THE best thing about this six-part drama series is the setting - Dublin. The Irish city makes a refreshing change from London, Liverpool, Manchester or any of the other half-a-dozen cities from which TV producers rarely move. But, if the scenery is new, the storyline isn't.

The soapy plot revolves around three thirtysomething women, old friends reunited by a death. Nora (Angeline Bell) is engaged in a sexual coupling when the phone rings in her New York apartment. The voice leaving the message on the answerphone belongs to her father, an Irish TV weatherman to whom she hasn't spoken in four years. She carries on enjoying herself, not bothering to pick up the receiver. By the next scene daddy is dead and Nora is back to Dublin for the funeral where she meets up again with old pals Stevie (Susan Lynch), separated and with a baby, and Kate (Zara Turner), a successful property developer with an unhappy domestic life.

There are a few quirky touches. The depleted barbershop quartet to which the deceased man belonged sings Fly Me To The Moon as the coffin disappears in the crematorium. Sadly, such moments are few and far between. Mostly, the story features girls behaving sadly. Inevitably, Nora turns out not to be a successful actress in a US TV series as she's led her friends to believe. She's broke and in desperate need of the money she can raise by selling her late father's house. Stevie yearns to get back to work after the birth of her child. And she's seeking a new man. "Why's no one in love with me?" she asks, although one look at her retro look and clothes would provide the answer. As for Kate, her partner would sooner knock down connecting walls in their home than pay any attention to her. She may do up old property but she still has a heart. Witness the way she connives to help an old man refusing to move from property that's standing in the way of a major development! It's also pretty obvious she's going to fall into bed with Stevie's ex. When they bump into each other in the street, quite literally, he whisks her back to his place to change her clothes. This is all brightly played by a cast worthy of something better. The fact that the BBC have scheduled it for 10.30pm would seem to indicate a lack of faith in its ability to deliver ratings. They may be very well be right on this occasion,