History Series / Butterflies

The situation is the day-to-day life of the Parkinsons, a typical upper-middle-class British family living in what was taken to be a smart suburb of London[[note]]it was actually the upscale town of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire - more UsefulNotes/TheWestCountry - but a ''very'' affluent piece of[[/note]], presented in a tragicomic and somewhat bittersweet style. There are both traditional comedy sources (Ria's cooking, family squabbles) and more unusual sources such as Ria's mid-life crisis which has her teetering on the brink of an affair with Leonard, a somewhat more romantic and dashing man than her dour dentist husband. This unconsummated relationship with the outwardly-successful Leonard drives the plot. Ria is still in love with her husband, Ben, and has raised two generally well-adjusted but lazy sons, yet finds herself dissatisfied and in need of something more. Throughout the series Ria searches for that "something more" and finds some solace in her unconventional friendship with Leonard. In a 2002 interview, Carla Lane explained, "I wanted to write a comedy about a woman contemplating {{adultery}}."

* {{Adultery}}: The big issue between Leonard and Ria who hover on the brink but never actually get there.

* StandardizedSitcomHousing: The [=BBC=]'s deluxe version, the Affluent Suburbian Detached House, gets an outing here denoting this is a family headed by an extremely well-paid professional (Ben Parkinson is a dentist in private practice. In socially exclusive Cheltenham.)

* RetroactiveRecognition; "Adam", seen here in his first major acting role, became big a decade or so later as Rodney The Plonker in ''Series/OnlyFoolsAndHorses''.

* RetroactiveRecognition; "Adam", seen here in his first major acting role, became big a decade or so later as Rodney The Plonker in ''Series/OnlyFoolsAndhHorses''.