Years of Sally - 2025

 

By the time the Beyond Paradise Christmas Special had been broadcast, in 2024, Sally had already had a very busy time filming for release in 2025

The year started with Series 3 of Beyond Paradise. More Humphrey mysteries and, as the series grew, a possible romance for Humphrey's number two DS Williams and Archie, Martha's ex played by Jamie Bamber.

Martha and Humphrey fostered Rosie. A little girl isolated by her mother's hospitalisation. The relationship is difficult to begin with but eventually there is bonding and a it is a tear jerker when Rosie is, finally, able to return to her mother.

The "Ten Mile Kitchen" business  is a success and Martha is able to move to bigger premises in the heart of Shipton Abbott.

During the filming of Beyond Paradise Series 3, in Looe in Cornwall, Lee Mack is spied taking an interest. It soon becomes clear that he is on hand for more than just to watch his friend at work. Comic Relief had realised that having two of the biggest shows on TV, including a star who featured in both, was too good a comic opportunity to miss and Sally became the central link in "Not Going Beyond Paradise" where she played both Martha and Lucy. For Charity of course. But still, an amusing 10 minutes was written and performed by the main cast of "Beyond Paradise" and Lee.

Channel 5 cast Sally, in late 2024, for a Crime Drama. "The Au Pair" was set in the Cotswolds though filmed in Ireland. Sally played Zoe Dalton, a tailor and mother to her husband's children. Her husband was played by Ken Doughty. Zoe's father was played by David Suchet. The story surrounds the attempts of a daughter, that Zoe thought had died at birth, to be reunited with her mother. A dark, plot affecting those seemingly closest to Zoe, is unearthed over the course of the four episodes. The series aired over consecutive nights in March 2025 and is significant enough to warrant a gag, for Sally, in the Comic Relief sketch.

In 2025 the next phase of Lucy and Lee's life was to be broadcast on "Not Going Out". The kids have headed off to University so Lee and Lucy have sold up and moved to the countryside. The first episode, of series 14, see' them hunting for their new home. Opinions differ on whether the home that we see in Episode 1 is the one that they actually buy.

The series is filmed in real time. Lee had liked the idea of filming live episodes but was talked out of it and real time was the compromise.

Episode 2 see's Lee bring a Sex Doll back from the dump. In Episode 3 he takes Lucy away for a break in a friend's worn out Campervan. Felicity Montegu guests as the psycho Campervan neighbour.

Episode 4 surrounds Lee and Lucy arguing over failed attempts to buy tickets for the Oasis tour. Episode 5 Lee and Lucy are cast as extra's in a TV Show and the season finale is a classic Not Going Out farce where Lee uses free vouchers to stay in a nearby hotel. It is another occasion where Sally carry's out some of her performance on a mobile phone screen.

Series 14 has had it's critics but, by and large, it has been received well. The loss of popular characters and the real time format have took some adjusting to but NGO fans are already looking forward to the, already commissioned, Series 15.