Amanda's pregnancy brings out the nesting instinct in her. Emma gets the wedding bug from Louise, but James brings his lover down to earth with a bang.
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Hearts and Bones 9.00pm BBC1
A whole armoury of bombshells rains down on the group of friends at the centre of this superior drama series tonight, and it looks like things between them can never be the same again.
Silly Sinead is the unwitting catalyst when she writes a book that is a very thinly veiled account of the illicit love lives of her pals. This has huge implications for Rich and Emma. Could their secret at last be out?
And the very suave James, Emma's new boyfriend, has some nasty surprises in store for her, too, when he reveals a dark side of his personal life, and an aspect to his character as Machiavellian as it is wicked.
Elsewhere Amanda is not coping too well with her advancing pregnancy ("I am a hideous, lumpy Buddha"), and her overbearing enthusiasm for her council work ends up making her and a particular worthy cause look foolish.
All of this is done as deftly as fans have come to expect, and the dark and light shades in the multiple stories are beautifully realised. A real treat.
(Alison Graham)