Home Time
- TV sitcom
- BBC Two
- 2009
- 6 episodes (1 series)
Sitcom starring Emma Fryer as a girl who returns home to Coventry 12 years after having running away to find her place in the big wide world. Stars Emma Fryer, Hayley Jayne Standing, Kerry Godliman, Rebekah Staton, Marian McLoughlin and Philip Jackson
Character guide
Gaynor
Gaynor can't hide forever, but a faint smile and a talent for fibbing are her only defences against the gleeful sympathy of her friends. It's like they kept her seat warm, knowing she'd be back.
It doesn't matter what she's achieved down south, or how she's changed - if her Mum and friends have their way, she'll be exactly what she used to be: 17 all over again.
Mel
As Gaynor's best friend, Mel knows best. She's never left the West Midlands, lives by choice at her parents' house and still makes her living through babysitting, but why should that disqualify her from doling out advice? She's read Marie Claire. Plus, by relentlessly advising others she doesn't have to look at her own failings.
Mel will look you sweetly in the eye while pulling you to pieces. After all, if it's for your own good, it's not cruelty, is it? She's also a romantic, of sorts, and wants to be seen as the embodiment of maternal warmth.
Becky
The go-getter. The long hours have finally paid off. With her commission-winning catch phrase "Cladding's Back" she's now Head of Marketing at CovConClad (Coventry's leading conservatories and cladding company).
Becky is a massive fish in a pokey pond and wants the lifestyle to match, even if she can't afford it. This provincial player can never admit that she's desperately scrimping for the rent on her tiny apartment. She's doggedly pragmatic and straight-talking so vulnerability, affection and gratitude only ever leak out of her in grunts and punches.
Kelly
Kelly is the bouncy one of the group. A still-aspiring DJ, Kelly's been caning it hard in Cov since she was 15. Still wild, still clubbing, still unable to persuade any club owner to let her have any more than a 30-minute set, Kelly's idiotic vigour is undiminished and her daft clothes, demeanour and buoyant physique contrast with her craggy fun-worn face.
Kelly's beauty's faded at the same rate as her eyesight, so she doesn't see the creases: she's pretty sure she's 22, give or take a couple of years.
Brenda
Gaynor's mum Brenda is by turns suffocatingly fond and sourly judgemental - she can't quite forgive her daughter for running away and making her look like a bad mum. She hides her resentment under energetic martyrdom and, though she dearly wants Gaynor to stay, they can't help but pick up where they left off: frustrated mother and sulking teen.
In the 12 years she's been denied the role of mother, Brenda has overplayed a number of other roles, the latest being a 'befriender' at the local Irish centre, accent and all.
Roy
Gaynor's dad Roy is delighted to have her back home, but has no idea how to make her feel better. He does his best to mediate and reassure, despite his generation's lack of tools for the job - words don't come easy to Roy, but he's brave enough to keep trying.
Gentle, cumbersome and big-handed, this practical man has found nothing to do since he was made redundant from his supervisory position on the factory floor at the car plant. His mild contentment contains a shred of unfocused longing.