Tonight saw the first showing of Martin's long awaited TV appearance in "Can't Buy Me Love."
This was billed as a comedy-drama and told the story of Alan Harris who dupes his wife into believing he has won 8.9 million pounds on the lottery in a desperate attempt to stop her leaving him. Things quickly spiral out of control and eventually he is caught, charged with fraud and sentenced to 5 years
This was a very enjoyable 90 minutes viewing and it was nice to see Martin in something where nobody dies, after appearing in such shows as "Family" and "Brides in the Bath." He looked every inch the typical Essex man with the blonde highlights, and earring. Martin said that these changes where influenced by a recent family holiday in Ibiza.
Having not seen Martin in anything since "Where the Heart is" it was definitely worth the wait, and we did see rather a lot of him in this, completely intact with no moustache or scarring.
Martin seemed to be comfortable in this lighter role and the relationship between him and his screen wife Michelle Collins was very believable this may be partly due to the fact that they have been friends for several years.
I hope Martin is offered more of these roles. In fact it would be nice to see Martin and Gary do something light-hearted after the drama of "The Krays" which was almost 15 years ago.