The plot follows on directly from the previous episode, as Adam and Rachel (James Nesbitt and Helen Baxendale), and Karen and David (Hermione Norris and Robert Bathurst) travel to Sydney, Australia for Pete and Jo's (John Thomson and Kimberley Joseph) impromptu wedding.

Meanwhile, David discovers that Karen has been having an affair with her colleague Mark (Sean Pertwee) and ends their marriage, and Rachel gives birth prematurely in a Sydney hospital.

Both attended a television conference in Sydney and decided to contrive the main plot of the fourth series so the characters would end up in Australia.

Helen Baxendale was pregnant and could not fly to Australia, so all scenes featuring Rachel were filmed in Manchester and Salford, England.

Adam and Rachel (James Nesbitt and Helen Baxendale), and Karen and David (Hermione Norris and Robert Bathurst) arrive in Sydney, Australia for Pete and Jo's (John Thomson and Kimberley Joseph) hastily arranged wedding.

Jo's father Rod Ellison (Gary Sweet) is surprised to learn that his daughter is marrying a man he suspects is only after his money.

Rachel, who is spending most of her time in her hotel room on account of her pregnancy, receives a visit from her expatriated lesbian sister Lucy (Susannah Doyle).

The storyline would culminate in an episode set in Australia, which Harries wanted "for no desperately good reason except that it's a nice place to go".

The original script included stereotypical references to Australian culture, such as "prawns on the barbie", but these were cut to avoid turning the episode into a travelogue.

[1] The collapse of Karen and David's marriage was a controversial issue among the writer and producers; two characters had already divorced and Harries wanted to avoid all three of the main relationships failing.

[3] After enjoying the quality of the Australian guest stars, Bullen joked to the Sun Herald that he would write a spin-off series featuring Gary Sweet.

[3] Continuity was an absolute nightmare [...] You had actors walking through a door in Manchester and emerging onto a street in Sydney, and we had to make sure that they were wearing the same clothes, with the same skin tones, all the way through.

[6] He was followed in May by producer Spencer Campbell and production designer Chris Truelove, who made preliminary casting decisions and scouted more locations.

[4] Helen Baxendale was nearing the end of her pregnancy, so could not join the rest of the cast abroad, thus all of her scenes were filmed in Manchester and Salford.

[15] Hermione Norris found the scene upsetting insofar as it was unusual to see Robert Bathurst playing David in such an emotional state.

[13] The episode was originally broadcast in an extended 90-minute commercial timeslot on 10 December 2001 on the ITV network in the United Kingdom (ITV1, STV and UTV) and on TV3 in Ireland.

[16] Final ratings, accounting for PVR viewings, rose to 8.95 million (38% share), making it the twenty-first most-watched show of the week.

In the Liverpool Echo, Rachael Tinniswood wrote that the episode "was a fantastic display of everything that has made Cold Feet such a popular drama over the past few years" and that Kimberley Joseph had proved to be "a more than adequate replacement" for Fay Ripley over the course of the fourth series.

[18] Tony Purnell wrote in the Daily Mirror that "The fact that the gang ended up in Australia showed just how much the series had lost its way.

"[19] Graham Young in the Birmingham Mail wrote that the excursion to Sydney "smacks more of giving the cast a treat after four years, rather than any real necessity of the script".

[21] In a column about Chewin' the Fat, Scotsman critic Aidan Smith accused the episode—"which somehow managed to squeeze the Harbour Bridge into every shot"—of being the point the series jumped the shark.

Karen pursues David as he storms off after the ceremony, shouting his name, undoubtedly ready to alternate once more between pain and partial forgiveness, as they have done throughout their marriage.

The series won, and the award was collected by Mike Bullen, Andy Harries and Spencer Campbell at the BAFTA ceremony in April 2002.

Robin Oliver for the Sydney Morning Herald wrote "Unlike any of the other seemingly compulsory Oz adventures to which British TV panders, this one presents a superior storyline while soaking up the views."

[28] The Age's Debi Enker was critical, decrying the plot as "fairly creaky" and the locations as "a very glossy ad for the sights of Sydney".

The New Zealand Herald's reviewer Michele Hewitson was critical of the clichés in the script, particularly the stereotypical characterisation of Rod Ellison, who she described as "a bit of a bastard".

Hewitson was also critical of Karen's reaction to David's attempts to repair their relationship, and concluded by writing, "God only knows why they had to drag the entire cast all the way to Australia.