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Doctor Foster spin-off Life impresses fans with big twists

Susannah Alexander
·4-min read
Photo credit: BBC
Photo credit: BBC

From Digital Spy

Doctor Foster spin-off Life made its debut tonight (September 29) and viewers were very excited to see a brand new story set in the same world.

The drama follows the lives of the tenants of a house in Manchester which is divided into four flats and how their stories intertwine with each other.

Doctor Foster fans will recognise Belle (Victoria Hamilton) – who went by the name Anna in Doctor Foster – and she's been trying to get her life in order. But when her sister suffers a breakdown, Belle is forced to take in her unhappy teenage niece Maya (Erin Kellyman) and face up to responsibility.

Photo credit: BBC
Photo credit: BBC

Related: Doctor Foster's Victoria Hamilton was "slow" realising she was playing her character again in Life

Gail (Alison Steadman), while rushing to pick up her husband Henry (Peter Davison) from the hospital, almost runs over an old school friend, Dawn (Buffy Davis). While the three catch up, Dawn makes the observation that Henry belittles Gail and Gail soon comes to realise that she is right.

After Henry continues to interrupt her and make jokes at her expense while Gail rediscovers the passion she used to have for music, she decides to leave her husband – but as she's making her exit from the pair's flat, Henry arrives home and reveals he's received his hospital test results and he's not got long to live.

English lecturer David (Adrian Lester) goes on holiday alone, taking his wife's place at a holiday home, and encounters confident Saira (Saira Choudhry), who makes a pass at David after he tells her that he and his wife are on a break. Rattled David returns home immediately but is shocked to find when he returns to work that Saira is in his new class.

There's another big twist in store in this story, as David reveals that his wife actually died five weeks ago – and the glimpses we've seen of her were all in his imagination.

Photo credit: BBC
Photo credit: BBC

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Finally, heavily pregnant Hannah (Melissa Johns) reconnects with Andy (Calvin Demba), a man she had a one-night stand with nine months earlier and the father of her baby. Andy is disappointed when he realises that Hannah's new boyfriend Liam (Joshua James) is going to be taking on dad duties, but does his best to put a brave face on things.

When Hannah unexpectedly goes into labour early, Andy is there for the birth – alongside Maya, who breaks the door down to reach Hannah after hearing her screams – and he's ecstatic when baby Evie arrives. But when Liam arrives home, Andy feels pushed out again.

The drama's first episode attracted a great deal of praise for its talented cast:

And the twists and turns have already got plenty of you hooked:

Life continues next Tuesday (October 6) at 9pm on BBC One.

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