I'm a social piranha

So declares the delightfully deranged Jill Tyrrell in the comedy Nighty Night. After her husband is diagnosed with cancer, Jill drops him off at the hospital and then signs up at a dating agency. She soon falls for her next-door neighbor, Don, who recently moved in with his disabled wife. It is painfully funny to watch the bemused couple stand by powerless, either too polite or too stunned, to stop Jill as she proceeds to move into their house and take over their lives. The comedy is way over the top, and there are many disgusting and horrifying moments. You can't help but wonder, though, what fresh outrage Jill will come up with next. She has no conscience, and absolutely no intention of following any sort of social conventions. Of course, only the first season is available in the U.S., so I've already placed my order for season two at amazon.co.uk. I'm really anxious to see how Jill manages to get out of the situation she left at the end of season one, what with the rather extensive pile of bodies she left behind . . .

Some of Jill's other words of wisdom:

"I'm not a malicious woman, and I will strike down the first person that says I am."

To a customer of the Tan Blaster in her salon: "While you're in there, I wouldn't inhale." Customer: "What should I do about breathing?" Jill: "I suggest you try to stock up on your breathing before you go in."

The actress who played the disabled next door neighbor looked awfully familiar. A quick check of the IMDB revealed her to be Rebecca Front, who is Chief Superintendent Innocent in the Inspector Lewis series, currently being shown on Masterpiece Mystery. Thank goodness for IMDB, because the helpless, accommodating creature who gets run over by Jill in Nighty Night is nothing like the self-assured, always-in-command Innocent of Lewis. I don't think my poor brain would have been able to connect the two characters!