♫ Can't You See How Happy We Could Be?! ♫ note
Next of Kin is a sitcom which aired on BBC One from 1995 to 1997. It stars Penelope Keith and William Gaunt as self-absorbed middle couple Maggie and Andrew Prentice, who intend to retire and spend their last days in France. Their plans are put on hold however when their only child and his wife die in a car crash, leaving them in custody of their three children. Georgia (Ann Gosling) is a sullen self-righteous 13-year-old, 11-year-old Philip (Matthew Clarke) won't eat anything other than spam, and 7-year-old Jake (Jamie Lucraft) is obsessed with animals. Maggie and Andrew must now navigate the world of raising three orphans and ditching their previous life, all whilst the grandchildren struggle with their new life under less-than-caring grandparents.
Tropes in this episode:
- Abusive Parents: Maggie and Andrew to their son Graham, barely bonding with him and leaving him alone in boarding school whilst they went off abroad. In fact, by the start of the series, they intend to leave for France without telling Graham. This comes to bite him in the ass later on when Graham badmouths them in front of his children, leading to them becoming resentful of Maggie and Andrew. They're not much better with the grandchildren at first, forgetting their ages and leaving them alone to cope when Phillip is injured, which is enough for a child services agent to appear on the case.
- Age-Appropriate Angst: Whilst none of the children take the death of their deaths well, Jake takes it the best. Fitting, seeing as at the age of 7, he's the youngest of the three.
- Alliterative Name: Phillip Prentice.
- Animal Lover: Jake, who is obsessed with animals and keeps a wide collection of them.
- Birthday Episode:
- In "Georgia's Party", Maggie reads in Georgia's party that it was not only her birthday recently, but that no one had bothered to celebrate it. She thus tries to correct things by throwing her a birthday. It's eventually subverted when it's revealed that it isn't Georgia's birthday at all - it was actually in 4 months, and she wanted to know if Maggie will snoop around in her diary. Maggie... doesn't take it very well.
- "The Puppy" is focused around Maggie's birthday and has her displeased that she has gotten a dog for her birthday.
- Bratty Half-Pint: Laura, Liz's daughter. Maggie has a low opinion of her and she's proven correct when she shows up in "The New Term" to get chickenpox before she goes to big school - she says that Andrew is too old to be a daddy, beats up Jake (granted, it was for taking her My Little Pony doll) and puts a worm in his Ribena. Liz seems to be the only person who doesn't realize it and briefly walks out when it's suggested to her that Laura is a bully.
- Bratty Teenage Daughter: 13-year-old Georgia, who repeatedly badmouths her grandparents and tries to make their lives hell.
- Chickenpox Episode: "The New Term" begins when Jake gets chickenpox. This proves problematic, as it's his first day back at school after the death of his parents and his grandparents were looking forward to a day without the children. Meanwhile, Liz uses the opportunity to bring her daughter Laura over to catch the disease, at least until it's revealed that Laura is a Bratty Half-Pint (although she does end up catching the illness). By the end of the episode, Maggie has caught it as well.
- Children Raise You: Maggie and Andrew start out as jerkasses and resentful of their status as the legal guardians of their grandchildren, but over time mellow out and come to enjoy the children.
- Christmas Episode: 1995's "The Nativity Play", which features a Christmas school play.
- Don't You Dare Pity Me!: "Adoption" has Georgia commit truancy because of other people at school treating her like an ornament due to the recent deaths of her parents.
- First Day of School Episode: The plot of "The New Term" focuses on the three children's first day of school after becoming raised by their grandparents. The grandparents themselves are looking forward, having not enjoyed the company of the grandchildren, until Jake comes down with chickenpox.
- Food Slap: When Maggie learns that it wasn't Georgia's birthday after all and that he tricked her, Maggie slams a trifle into her face.
- Hates Their Parent: Thanks to his cold upbringing, Graham regularly badmouthed his parents, calling his mother a "scarlet woman" and his father a "goodtime Charlie". Thanks to this, his children grow to hate their grandparents as well.
- It's All My Fault: "Pollution" reveals that Philip fears that it's his fault for the car crash that took his parents' lives, as they were mad at him for his hatred of music and he feared that it was this anger which caused them to lose control. It's up to Andrew to explain that it was the adverse weather conditions and terrible brakes that took them out. However, after leaving, it's revealed that Andrew was lying about this, implying that it really was Philip's fault after all.
- "Kick Me" Prank: In "Georgia's Party", Philip has come home with news that he's in detention again, this time for using the phone of his teacher. When Maggie inquires about this, Philip mockingly calls her "granny" and slaps a "Call Me Granny" sign on her back. She doesn't quite realize why exactly everyone is calling her "granny" until the others rip it off.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Graham's wife is never given a name, but is usually referred to as "Boot-Face" by Maggie and Andrew.
- Picky Eater:
- Phillip will only eat spam.
- Jake won't eat anything round.
- Posthumous Character: Graham and his wife, whose deaths are the impetus for their children being Raised by Grandparents but who never appear in the flesh even beforehand.
- Put on a Bus: Liz and Tom are written out for Series 3, with the explanation given that Tom had knocked up Liz.
- Raised by Grandparents: The premise of the show - the three children's parents have died in a car crash, so it's up to their grandparents to raise them.
- The Runaway: "Enjoyment" ends with Georgia deciding to run away from home, having concluded that she hates her new life with her grandparents. However, Maggie convinces her to stay with the promise of a freezer stuffed with vegetarian meals.
- Second Episode Morning: The second episode begins the morning after the first and features Maggie and Andrew waking up to Jake and wondering if they were dreaming him. Unfortunately, they're not, and he's there because Phillip had injured himself.
- Soapbox Sadie: Georgia is an environmentalist, vegetarian and quite staunch about it. From what we do hear about her parents, this is a trait she's inherited from them.
- Unique Pilot Title Sequence: The first episode lacks the lyrics used for future episodes and only features Maggie and Andrew walking down a French street, with no sign of the children.
- T-Word Euphemism: Played for Laughs in "Adoption" when Jake mentions a classmate using the F-Word and the teacher laughing at him when he tried to complain about it. It isn't until Maggie leaves to confront the teacher that Jake reveals that the f-word being used is "fat".
- Unsuccessful Pet Adoption: "The Puppy" features the children giving Margaret a puppy named Jelly for her birthday. She grows to bond with the dog, but Phillip is revealed to be allergic to dogs, and it has to be sent away by the end of the episode.
- We Named the Monkey "Jack": Two of Jake's goldfishes are named after his grandparents. Apparently, it was his father's idea, because Maggie and Andrew circle around in their own little world without caring for anyone else.
