Warning: This article contains spoilers!

As my husband spends a lot of time in his car with his job, he listens to a lot of radio and sometimes he comes home saying that there’s a new TV show that people on the radio have been raving about and we should definitely watch it. This was the case with Marriage, a BBC bittersweet programme about a couple who are in a long-term marriage.

We have been married for 37 years, so I had a mix of emotions whilst settling down to watch it. Would it reflect our marriage? Would there be scenes which are uncomfortable to watch? Or would we celebrate the parallels in our marriage reflected in this programme?

Well, the answer is yes, to all our questions.

Sean Bean plays Ian, who we find out has been made redundant and is by himself during the day left to his own devices and Nicola Walker is Emma, working in a law firm with a boss who has dubious ways to run his office. By day, Ian goes to the gym or the supermarket, trying to spark conversations with people and Emma is trying to bring the law firm into the 21st century by going online.

Just as a thought… maybe Ian would enjoy an episode or two of Game of Thrones?

We see them hug each other, give little kisses and hold each other’s hands, they have niggling arguments like the one about the jacket potato at the airport and we also see that they have experienced the heartache of a child dying, which obviously had a tremendous effect on their lives.

There are long silences whilst they clear up after a meal, each getting on with the duties they have performed repeatedly during their marriage, like a well oiled machine.

Even though there’s no fast-paced action, the couple are constantly at the beck and call of their family, whether it be Emma’s dad calling to see if she can fix the oven or Jess, their adopted daughter, moving out of her boyfriend’s flat, they are at the stage of life where people depend on them.

There was a lot of things we could relate to: the long silences, the household chores, the jokes which we have between ourselves, looking after older relatives and the younger ones and most importantly, just the every day emotional support we give each other.

You can look on Instagram and see the ‘perfect’ marriages, the fast-paced lives that people purport to be having, the tropical holidays, the wonderful children, but if you want to see what married life is really like, then watch this programme.