By Martin Gray

'Have you got more hair?'

The returning Cold Feet got the elephant in the room out of the way quickly, acknowledging that James Nesbitt appears younger now than when the original run ended 13 years ago. Heck, all the original cast members look great, their separate successes since 2003 apparently a great impetus to stay in shape.

Now though, Nesbitt, Fay Ripley, John Thomson, Hermione Norris and Robert Bathurst are back together and ITV's week-night schedule - and viewer demographic - is all the better for it. It's not Old Feet, it's not Crow's Feet, it's Cold Feet, as fresh as the day writer Mike Bullen introduced Adam, Jenny, Pete, David and Karen in a 1997 pilot. He also introduced Rachel, but Helen Baxendale's character was killed off towards the end of the run. It was one of the few ill-judged moments of the comedy-drama - a little cheap, truth be told - but it's undeniable that her absence enriches the new series.

We rejoin the gang with IT man Adam returning to Manchester from his new life in Singapore to announce he's getting married to Angela, who's 18 years his junior. Pete and Jenny are still together, and happy, with the only cloud being Pete's having to work two no-prospects positions after losing his job. David and Karen are long since divorced, with David's current marriage to the high-flying Robin looking to head the same way.

And the years having passed, there's another layer of characters in the various kids, now old enough to do more than be sick over their parents. Here, Adam's teenage son, Matt  - Ceallach Spellman, who actually looks like Baxendale could be his mother - isn't as happy at private school as his dad assumes. Spellman's a terrific addition to the regular cast, a cracking young actor who holds his own in formidable company. 

When Adam has a fall at the airport, Pete assumes he's had a heart attack ('...a man of your age'), but the cause was something else. And Adam begins to have doubts about marrying a woman he's known only six months, with Jenny's insistence he's making a mistake not helping...

Bullen doesn't take the obvious route and make Angela (the luminous Karen David), parachuted into the close-knit group, a harridan to be gone by episode's end. She is, as Peter points out, lovely. And thank goodness for that, I hate it when new additions are just pawns, used as story props - Angela is, so far at least, properly part of the story. Heck, you don't cast Art Malik as someone's father without having a plan. 

I'm not normally a fan of non-linear storytelling, but Bullen doesn't do that irritating US 'three days earlier' thing, he just skips back and forth a few hours here and there to better land the odd punchline. Not that this cast need the assist, Cold Feet's ensemble is as tight as ever, with everyone at the top of their game, sparking off one another with immense charm. They kill on the comedy and, without missing a beat, nail the more poignant moments - I teared up when Adam showed Matt the house where they lived with Rachel.

Superbly acted and written, skilfully directed, beautifully filmed - Manchester has never looked more magical - Cold Feet is as good as it ever was, its portrayal of the tenderness of friendships unique on British TV. Welcome back.

Brilliant! *shortest review ever*

By Tarcus

I am probably one of the few who never bothered to watch cold feet the first time around! this was due to my first impressions that it was a UK rip off of friends from the US.
I did however fall for the hype about the return of this gloriously funny yet serious drama about the lives of the famous five.
Sadly I was not struck with anything good during this shambling dirge of late 40 somethings coming to terms with getting old.
I am assuming that many references about relationships and sly looks between the cast are references to the old series sadly as I say I never watched it so for me cold feet leaves me cold as ice.
I have no desire to follow the ramblings of any of these characters as none stand out as being important enough for me to be concerned where they go in their lives.
 

If, like me, you were a huge fan of Cold Feet the first time round I'm sure you couldn't wait to see to see the new series after an absence of 13 years! It's been highly publicised and there is little doubt that you would put have known that it was on last night at 9pm ITV.
So did it live up to all the hype? Yes, yes, yes. I was immediatly drawn back into their chaotic, funny, emotional lives. Adam (James Nesbitt) was the lovable cheeky rogue still a ladies man and still extremely good looking and even had more hair then the last series!!! But that was also cheekily dealt with, with Jenny asking him about it. Jenny (Faye Ripley) and Pete (John Thimpson) were back together after divorcing in the last series, but poor Pete was on his uppers. David (Robert Bathhurst) was hankering after his ex wife Karen (hermione Norris), who has a very suspect shiny face with rather large cheeks this time round! But David is now married to his divorce lawyer who it seems has become rather disenchanted with being married to Him.
That leaves Adam, that loveable Irish rogue. He's fallen in love at last, well it's been 13 years since the love of his life, Rachel, died in a car crash, and he's decided he needs to get married! But has he got over Rachel really? Coming back to Manchester (seems he's travelled the world since the last series) to tell his old mates brings it all back, not forgetting having to tell his son, who's not that happy about it and is having a bit of trouble at his boarding school, and indeed gets expelled at the end of the episode, which I'm sure is going to cause a bit of a hiccup in Adams life during this series. Adam, takes his son, on his wedding day to the house that they (Rachel and Adam) lived in, cue tears from me!! It's quite plain that Rachel is on his mind.
So does he do it? Does he marry? She's a lot younger then him, 18 years, and although I really tried to not like the character as she was replacing Rachel, Angela (Karen David) played a likeable, carefree woman and to top it off was loaded!! In the last few minutes of the episode Adam was about to say his vows, but he stalled, yes, I thought, he's not going to do it? Have to say I thought a bit of footage of his wedding to Rachel should have been inserted there, but he did , Adam said I do, and cut to his very upset son who has yet to tell his Dad that he's been expelled and will therefore be living with them.

Mike Bullen, the writer, seems to have got this so right, the characters are heading for 50 and the kids are in their teens so I'm hoping lots of angst and trouble ahead for them all mixed together with comedy which all the cast seem to do so easily. BUT and its a big but, where was Ramona?? I really hope she is still around as it won't be quite right without her.

'COLD FEET MIGHT BE UNUSUAL IN SEPTEMBER, BUT OH WHAT A JOYOUS, GLORIOUS COMEBACK'!

TV show comebacks are not always guaranteed to be a roaring success. For example, no more 'Only Fools and Horses' should have been made after Del and Rodney FINALLY became millionaires. The remake of 'Dallas' was an unmitigated disaster and I presume those involved in the revival of the soap opera 'Crossroads', do not work in television anymore due to it being that bad. Therefore, I was nervous about 'Cold Feet' coming back onto our screens this past week. I longed for it not to be a stinker, I didn't want my much treasured memories of this utterly brilliant comedy-drama to be ruined.

After ITV1 had a somewhat unexpected summer hit with '80s comedy-drama 'Brief Encounters', I did then wonder if they had unwittingly set themselves up for a fall here with regards to the scheduled return of 'Cold Feet'. By this, I meant if 'Cold Feet' wasn't that great, then them airing them both so closely together would only further magnify 'Cold Feet' being a flop.

The great news for my late '90s nostalgia is that this 'Cold Feet' comeback was an absolute triumph. The writing was top-notch, the acting was fantastic and the music throughout was sublime. The show even managed to retain its slightly quirky feel that I adored so much about it when it was first on.

Barring the one bit of overacting by James Nesbitt(as Adam, when telling off his son Matthew at his school), the rest of his performance and those of the other cast members were great. Fay Ripley as Jenny, reminded us all just what a fantastic talent she is. The thought struck me whilst watching, why have we not seen her in more things on the telly over the years because she has this really likeable earthy quality to her acting.

The massive hole in the cast so-to-speak, was obviously no Helen Baxendale as Rachel(this character died at the end of series 5, Adam's wife and Matthew's mother). Therefore, it was pivotal to the success of this first episode that the new cast members who filled in this void of no Helen/Rachel, were up to scratch. Actress Karen David as Angela, Leanne Best as Tina and Cel Spellman as Matthew, all deserve a major congratulations for their first class performances here. I thought I would miss Rachel a lot more than I did so writer and creator Mike Bullen needs to receive high praise for this.

With regards to the brilliant writing, I first want to comment on a scene very early on in the episode that featured Pete going to pick Adam up at Manchester Airport. We saw these two best mates embrace one another and then Adam affectionately refer to Pete as Denis Law, the former Manchester United football great(because both are avid Man United fans). As I watched this scene for a second time of these two characters lovingly hug each other, it was then that it struck me how their embrace could sort of be seen as like a metaphor between the programme and its audience, i.e Adam representing all those involved in the making of the show and Pete representing us the viewers, with the hug signifying how great it was to see one another again after all those years apart.

The plot centred around Adam returning back to Manchester after years of working abroad and announcing to the gang that he was getting married to a woman from Singapore called Angela Zubayr. The alarming thing for his close friends Pete, Jenny, Karen and David, was that he had only known his future bride-to-be for six months. Throw in a heart attack THAT WASN'T a heart attack as well as Adam having problems with his young teenage son Matthew, and the superb all-round quality of the script reminded me just exactly why I had become such a massive fan of this late '90s comedy-drama in the first place. The script was funny, it was punchy and at times beautifully moving without ever being overly sentimental.

What I really loved about this comeback episode was that there seemed to be a funny comment or joke in almost every scene. For example, when Adam first met his new landlady Tina(where he pretended to be her taxi driver), they had this very amusing opening exchange when she joked with him,

Tina: "Shouldn't really be out".

Adam: "You not well"?

Tina: "Oh, just a touch of THRUSH"!

It was just a funny gag that instantly made me smile and immediately made me warm to this new character in Tina. As 'Cold Feet' is set in Manchester then much of the humour had a northern quality to it, i.e funny mickey taking banter. I thought Robert Bathurst played an absolute blinder throughout as funny snob David, and Pete looking ridiculous in a chauffeur's hat was a very funny scene. The sharp writing kept me laughing and smiling all the way through.

Amidst all the humour and in line with the comedy-drama genre, there were also some beautifully moving scenes too without ever going over-the-top. The most emotive one for me was when Adam and Matthew were stood outside their old family home discussing Rachel. I thought James Nesbitt was brilliant in his touching portrayal of a widower who after fourteen years still deeply missed his late wife. It was sad yet at the same time it was a lovely moving scene.

In relation to that emotional scene that I just talked about, it began with us hearing a gloriously emotive tune called 'Open Up Your Door' by Richard Hawley. Its intensely moving lyrics really helped to emotionally set up the extremely moving dialogue that we then heard from Adam. This underlined to me yet again just how important music is to the make up of this show. I love the quirky sounding theme tune and the background music throughout helped to energise the narrative. Another example of this was when we heard uplifting orchestral music play as we watched Matthew play rugby at school.

Without a shadow of a doubt, this was a joyous, glorious comeback for 'Cold Feet'. The question I therefore ask is, who does indeed like 'Cold Feet' in September??? The answer I give to you my friends is most definitely, I DO, I DO, I DO and I hope you do as well! 4/5.

Absolutely loved the return of Cold Feet and have waited until I had a few episodes under my belt before I commented, just in case it started to go downhill (which if I am honest I knew it wouldn't).

Once I had got my head round the fact that the children were all teens I felt like it had never left our screens. I would love to see a return of Cutting It too. Fingers crossed on that one.

GA x

We are all enjoying the return of Cold Feet and the SPAR gag at David's expense was superb ha ha!