A Passionate Woman

Set in Leeds, northern England, between the 1950s and 80s, Betty (Billie Piper - Doctor Who) is a young wife and mother whose life is changed forever after she falls hopelessly and dangerously in love with her charismatic Polish neighbor, Alex Crazenovski, also known as Craze. Against her principles, she abandons herself to a world of untapped thrills and passion, feelings that have been so desperately missing from her own conventional, claustrophobic marriage. Thirty years later, an older Betty (Sue Johnston - Waking the Dead) comes to realize that the consequences of her past compulsive passion have created ripples that spill far into the future, finally reaching a crisis point on her beloved son's wedding day.

Episode 1
Original Air Date-11 April 2010
Leeds, Yorkshire, England in the late 1950s :- Betty lives in a cold,damp flat in a large Victorian house with her husband Donald and baby son Mark. Donald is loving and industrious and anxious to make enough money to get them moved into their own house but Betty sees him as unromantic. Another young couple move into the house, Moira and her Polish husband known as Craze. Craze has some very unsavoury friends and a distinct dark side. However when Betty and her sister are at the local dance-hall she agrees to dance with him. They then begin a sexual affair which is brought to an abrupt halt when Moira shoots him dead.

Episode 2
Original Air Date-18 April 2010
A quarter of a century later,Mark is due to marry girlfriend Jo. Betty,who has given Mark the love she once reserved for Craze, is doubly shocked as not only are the young couple moving to Australia but she suspects that Jo, who is adopted, may be Moira and Craze's daughter. Jo introduces her to Ingrid,who is her real birth mother, through whom she re-encounters Moira - on the day of Mark's wedding. Moira delivers some home truths about Craze's dishonesty and adultery which Betty refuses to accept, climbing up onto the roof of her house until Moira has gone. A crowd gathers but she is eventually rescued by Donald,who tells her he knew all about Craze and tolerated it because it made Betty happy,which is all he ever wanted because,although he was not one for romantic gestures, he truly loved her. Betty comes to appreciate the difference between passion and love and, after the wedding, goes for a romantic air-balloon trip with Donald.

Directed by Antonia Bird, Kay Mellor
Written by Kay Mellor
Produced by Yvonne Francas
Executive Produced by Hugo Heppell, Polly Hill, Nicola Shindler
Original Music by Mark Bradshaw
Cinematography by Tony Coldwell
Film Editing by Fiona Colbeck