The plot follows well-to-do couple Maggie and Andrew Prentice who are forced to abandon their dreams of early retirement after they reluctantly become guardians of their orphaned grandchildren, after the death of their estranged son.

It was announced in The Mirror newspaper in April 1997 that Next of Kin had been axed by the BBC and that Penelope Keith was furious.

[1] Self-absorbed middle-class couple Maggie and Andrew Prentice have just taken early retirement and intend to spend their final years luxuriating in their new home overlooking a vineyard in the south of France.

However, when their estranged son Graham and his wife (they only refer to her as 'Boot-face') die in a car crash, Maggie and Andrew are forced to become legal guardians and later adoptive parents of Graham's three children, thirteen-year-old Georgia, eleven-year-old Philip and seven-year-old Jake, meaning that they will never be able to go to France.

During the series, the family struggle to get along together, with Andrew and Maggie missing their former privileged life, and the children unwilling to give their grandparents a chance initially.

Maggie and Andrew also began to feel considerable remorse for the appalling way they treated their late son, Graham, and they gradually grow to love and care deeply for their grandchildren, particularly in the final episode of the series, when Philip is being bullied and Maggie and Andrew encounter the bully's parents, who greatly remind them of themselves: negligent, selfish and more interested in having a good time than being a loving, attentive parent to their child.

The Prentices also employ a cleaner, Liz, who lives her life based on horoscopes and daytime talk shows such as Oprah.

Over the course of the series, Liz develops a relationship with Tom, a builder, who arrives to install a damp course in the kitchen and then is employed to do further jobs, including converting the garage into another bedroom for one of the children .

Loud, scruffy, and outspoken, she owns a very large rottweiler dog named Die Hard.

He does however show reluctance to make certain sacrifices such as selling his vintage car (Volvo P1800 ES Sports-back), his wine cellar laden with some of France's finest and his weekly game of golf.

She has an unpleasant daughter, Laura, and lives her every day through horoscopes, advice pages and daytime television.

During episode one of series 3, when Roxanne mistakes Rosie for the new cleaner, she mentions that 'the last one got pregnant and ran off with the builder'.

Rosie and Hugh depress Maggie and Andrew with their stories of luxurious holidays, massages, parties and rounds of golf, making them long for their old life back.

He makes semi-regular appearances, coming back to oversee the adoption process and even directing Jake's school's nativity play.

He and his unnamed wife (referred to as 'Boot-face') vehemently badmouthed Maggie and Andrew to Georgia, Philip and Jake, and the children often recall the horrible things Graham endured at his parents' hands, such as being abandoned at boarding school whilst Andrew and Maggie enjoyed themselves abroad.

The complete entire series was released by the BBC on DVD in Australia on 10 June 2015[3] and by Simply Media in the UK on 25 April 2016.