True Love is a five-episode 2012 semi-improvised BBC television drama, which began on BBC One on 17 June 2012. Each episode is a self-contained story, devised through improvisation, exploring an issue related to love and relationships. True Love had its first public screening at the Turner Contemporary in Margate on 29 March 2012. The series premiered on 17 June 2012 on BBC One, the remaining four episodes being stripped across the next three nights, with the final two airing as a double-bill on 20 June. True Love was originally titled Love Life but was re-titled to avoid confusion with an ITV series with the same title.
Episode one centres on Nick, whose happy marriage is turned upside-down by the reappearance of his first love.
Episode two centres on Paul, who is married to Michelle, a new father who experiences "love at first sight".
Episode three centres on Holly, a teacher who lives alone and is in an unhappy affair with a married man. Holly develops feelings for a student in her class.
Episode four centres on Sandra, a middle-aged woman in a stale marriage to an unfaithful husband. Jane Horrocks plays a shop keeper who is trapped in a loveless relationship and embarks on a passionate affair with a mysterious man.
True Love was filmed entirely in Margate and surrounding areas between early September and mid-October 2011. Billie Piper's episode was partially shot at The Charles Dickens School in Broadstairs, where some of the current students were invited to be extras, filming scenes alongside Piper. Other prominent locations include Botany Bay, Turner Contemporary, Westwood Cross shopping centre, and Margate railway station.
Cast
David Tennant as Nick
Ashley Walters as Paul
Billie Piper as Holly
Jane Horrocks as Sandra
David Morrissey as Adrian
Vicky McClure as Serena, Nick's first love
Jaime Winstone as Stella, Paul's lover
Kaya Scodelario as Karen, Holly's pupil and lover, and Adrian's daughter
Alexander Siddig as Ismail, Sandra's lover
Gemma Chan as Kathy, Adrian's lover
Joanne Froggatt as Ruth, Nick's wife
Lacey Turner as Michelle, Serena's younger sister and Paul's wife
Jo Woodcock as Lorraine, Nick's daughter and Karen's best friend
Charlie Creed-Miles as David, Sandra's husband and Holly's lover
The first episode was received negatively by most critics. Reviewing the episode for The Daily Telegraph, Isabel Mohan criticised the plot and Margate backdrop, both of which she found uninspiring, while Sam Wollaston of The Guardian compared the storyline, overlaid with sentimental music, unfavourably to an edition of the Our Tune radio feature. The Independent's Terence Blacker was also unenthusiastic: "It messed up the story, revealing the outcome of a will-they-won't-they tale of infidelity before a single word of dialogue had been spoken."
