I happened upon The Change the other week when I was scrolling for something new to watch, and what a delightful change it was. Bridget Christie, an actress I was no previously familiar with, has created a funny, warm and thought provoking series that was nominated, deservedly so, for a BAFTA.
The series begins with Christie’s character, Linda, talking rather aimlessly to her older sister, Siobhain (Liza Tarbuck), who is bullying her into silence. Both are attending Linda’s 50th birthday party, which she has organized and catered and will end up cleaning up, while her husband gets kudos for throwing it for her.
While putting away the dishes, Linda takes out a notebook and writes down how much time she has spent on domestic chores around the house while the rest of her family does anything but. After placing the most recent notebook into a closet with hundreds of others, Linda calculates the thousands of hours she’s put in to taking care of her family. After a visit to her aged, male doctor who tells her she’s in menopause, Linda decides enough is enough. She jumps on her motorcycle and sets course for a wooded area she visited as a child, and slowly begins changing the nearby village, which is host to a bevy of odd and quirky characters, including a feminist podcaster named Joy (Tanya Moodie) who, after her show, turns over the mic with an outraged misogynist known as The Verderer (Jim Howick,) a sort of Joe Rogan on steroids.
As Linda’s stay in the village is stretched out, her ideas are embraced by many, evoke a lot of interesting questions about what is included in unpaid labor, even as she is vilified by The Verderer.
Sadly, there are only two seasons, and 12 episodes, but each is charming, funny and features some interesting characters most of us haven’t met on mainstream TV before.
The Change is currently streaming on Brit Box. Check it out. You’ll be happy you did.