My secret sister

A grieving daughter discovers her dad led a double life in a new comedy

- STEVEN PERKINS, ALISON SLADE.

The death of a loved one might not be the most obvious starting point for a comedy, but this new seven-part series from writers Holly Walsh and Pippa Brown finds space for gags amid the grieving.

Originally a pilot for BBC2 back in 2017, The Other One follows Catherine Walcott (The Windsors’ Ellie White), whose father, Colin, dies unexpectedly. However, Catherine’s grieving becomes complicated when she and her mother, Tess, learn that Colin had a mistress, Marilyn, and another daughter – also called Catherine.

As unlikely as this might sound, it was inspired by real life…

DOUBLE TROUBLE

‘My friend told me a story about how this happened to a friend of their parents in the 1970s,’ says Walsh, who has also written Motherland. ‘He had two families and had called the children the same names to avoid any confusion. I thought it was such a brilliant story. Weirdly, since the pilot went out, people have come up to me and said, “Oh yeah, that happened to my mate.” It seems more common than you might think.’