An infatuated young surgeon lays siege to a glamorous older woman. Owen Springer (Robson Green) is a young doctor who has just moved to Manchester to take care of his demanding, hypochondriac father. The last thing he is looking for is an affair…until he meets Anna (Francesca Annis). Anna is the Management Consultant assigned to assessing Owen's suitability for a job as a Surgical Registrar. Her assessment is that he is a mouthy, yet charming, young upstart. Owen's assessment is that she's the sexiest woman he's ever seen and that he's in love.

However, there are two obstacles on Owen's path to happiness—Anna is several years older, and she is married. Undaunted, Owen sets out to charm her, and just when he's beginning to get somewhere, he's hit with a bombshell. Anna's husband is his new boss.

When introducing Reckless, Russell Baker (as host of Masterpiece Theatre) warns the audience that what's to come has no literary merit; it's just entertainment. Entertainment, of course, is no small thing, and Reckless does a pretty good job of it. Owen (Robson Green), a young doctor heading for a new job in Manchester, first meets Anna (the magnetic Francesca Annis) on the train when he borrows her mobile phone (a very clunky piece of technology that places the show firmly in the late 1990s). As their paths continue to cross, Owen finds himself falling for Anna, even though she's at least 10 years older than he is. But Owen's hopes of love run into a serious obstacle when he discovers Anna is married to his boss, the imperious Dr. Richard Crane (Michael Kitchen).

Reckless charts the shifts and upsets of this love triangle--the tone ranges from light comedy to something bordering on Fatal Attraction. It starts slowly, but the second and third parts grow steadily more intricate, suspenseful, and torrid. Bad behavior is on ample display, acted with verve by the cast. The sequel is actually more fun than the original six-hour series; it's only a single two-hour episode, but it takes a more full-bodied satirical approach that doesn't prevent some heart-wrenching turns. Almost all of the original cast return, with a variety of new characters--including Geoffrey Palmer (As Time Goes By) as Richard's father. --Bret Fetzer