The storylines focus on three couples: Adam Williams and Rachel Bradley, Pete and Jenny Gifford, and David and Karen Marsden who are played by James Nesbitt, Helen Baxendale, John Thomson, Fay Ripley, Robert Bathurst and Hermione Norris respectively.
The series followed multiple storylines for the characters: Rachel returns to Manchester and she and Adam begin seeing other people, though reunite after he is treated for testicular cancer; Pete and Jenny's relationship falters after she thinks she no longer loves him and he has an affair with a colleague; Karen and David work their way through his redundancy from work and are elated to learn Karen is pregnant.
All six main cast members from the first series returned; James Nesbitt as Adam Williams, Helen Baxendale as Rachel Bradley, John Thomson as Pete Gifford, Fay Ripley as Jenny Gifford, Robert Bathurst as David Marsden and Hermione Norris as Karen Marsden.
Recurring cast member Jacey Salles also returned to play the Marsdens' nanny Ramona Ramirez in all six episodes.
[8] Andy Harries believed that the first series had used up a lot of storylines, and the production team decided to focus on more dramatic plots rather than "whimsical humour".
[11] The marijuana scenes in Episode 4 were originally scripted differently: Karen and Adam's recreational drug use played out the same but Granada's legal department objected to the scenes because to Independent Television Commission's (ITC) code of conduct forbade the depiction of drug use unless it is shown in a negative light.
As a compromise, Bullen wrote an extra scene where David discovers what he thinks is Ramona's marijuana, and lectures her on the social and personal ramifications of its use.
Bullen was pleased to be able to subvert the anti-drugs message and relished putting the words into the mouth of David, "the most buffoonish of characters".
Testicular cancer had begun to receive greater attention around that time, and Harries believed that Cold Feet could publicise the illness.
Partway through writing the episode, Langan learned that the series' publicist Ian Johnson's partner had testicular cancer.
Bullen took the opportunity to add humour to the otherwise dramatic storyline by scripting Adam's dream to feature a parody of Rover, the white ball from the 1960s TV series The Prisoner, in this case representing an enormous testicle.
The scene was filmed in two parts; one of David pulling Josh out of the way, acting in front of a green screen, and the other of the car coming towards the camera.
[19] Episode 3 also featured the series' first scenes filmed outside England; Karen and David's anniversary storyline was originally scripted to conclude with the couple not meeting up due to a misunderstanding.
Vaughan found the improvisation to be exciting, and Norris was pleased that a scene could show "the love and tenderness between Karen and David after all the sniping that had been going on".
However, he criticised the emotional impact that Rachel's admission of her abortion had, stating that "it was obvious from the moment she appeared that she had returned without a baby".
[31] Kathleen Morgan for the Daily Record wrote, "There was always a danger that Cold Feet wouldn't live up to its first series, but yet again it left its rivals standing."
Brilliantly written, superbly acted" and complemented to the school disco scenes, off-handedly writing, "I want the CD".
[35] Robert Bathurst did not like the scene; he believed that the computer-generated testicle was of poor quality and thought that, instead of it being on screen for so long, it should have come down like a Monty Python foot.
[40] Cold Feet: The Complete 2nd Series was released in the UK by Video Collection International and Granada Media on VHS on 10 April 2000, and on region 2 DVD on 16 October 2000.