Based on the book by Catherine Heath. the 1989 four-part British miniseries Behaving Badly is not to be confused with the Britcom, Men Behaving Badly. Judi Dench, as ever, commands the screen in her BAFTA-nominated performance as middle-aged Bridget Mayor, who, like Jill Clayburgh's character in An Unmarried Woman, is initially shattered, but gets a new lease on life after her husband of two decades (Ronald Pickup, Fortunes of War) announces that he intends to marry his mistress younger Rebecca (Frances Barber). After a somewhat dreary first hour, dutiful and obedient Bridget blossoms and shines as she declares that "with only myself to think about, and not much to lose, I've stopped caring about other people's good opinions." Declaring her conformist days are over, she shocks family and friends, first by moving back in with her ex and his new wife, and then in the flat her daughter, Trudy, shares with a close-knit group of young professionals. She further scandalizes one and all by falling in love with one of them, and considers accompanying him to America. "My mother has stopped being splendid," Trudy frets. Less compelling is Trudy's own romantic pursuit of a black pastor.

Behaving Badly deftly mixes melodrama and comedy. Gwen Watfordias costars as Bridget's former mother-in-law and champion, who torments Rebecca and makes Marie on Everybody Loves Raymond look like June Cleaver. In an early performance, Joely Richardson (Nip/Tuck) steals her scenes as a nerves-frayed, stressed-out schoolteacher. Behaving Badly anticipates the current so-called "chick lit" movement with this empowering personal odyssey that ends on an optimistically exhilarating high, as Bridget heals all family wounds, and "risks everything" to embark on her "grand adventure." --Donald Liebenson