Cold Feet series 5
The plot of the series follows three couples: Adam (James Nesbitt) and Rachel (Helen Baxendale) getting to grips with bringing up baby Matthew (born in the final episode of the previous series), the return of Pete (John Thomson) and Jo (Kimberley Joseph) from their honeymoon, and the subsequent breakdown of their marriage, and the divorce proceedings between Karen (Hermione Norris) and David (Robert Bathurst).
Critics welcomed the decision to end the series and the final episode gained the highest viewing figure in the history of the programme, with 10.7 million people watching Rachel's funeral.
[2] Richard Armitage secured the role of Lee when he arrived at his audition wearing a pair of old boots, something that greatly impressed producer Spencer Campbell.
In order to match the scripted description of his character, Armitage began a heavy workout regimen and took aqua-aerobics lessons to better understand Lee's profession.
[13][14] During production of the series, tabloid newspapers published stories that four funeral scenes had been filmed and a final decision on which would air would be made close to the broadcast.
The Sunday Mirror quoted Andy Harries as being "undecided" over who would die in a report published in September 2002, though by this time production on the last episodes was well under way.
[16] Writing in New Statesman, Andrew Billen compared the appearance of Rachel's ghost to that of Gary Shepherd in thirtysomething, and its inspiration The Big Chill.
Billen was unsurprised when Mark told Karen he was a "child hater" and that Jo married Pete solely to stay in the country, suggesting that viewers had seen the plots coming for a long time.
[17] Reviewing for BBC News Online, Darren Waters wrote that the finale had a "thankful lack of sentimentality", though called the scenes in Portmeirion an "unnecessary coda".
[18] The Spectator's Simon Hoggart believed that Baxendale's portrayal of Rachel as a "fraught and snippy woman" was detrimental to the character, causing him to have less sympathy for her and more for Matthew.
