Baggage is set in the capital of Scotland and centres on the lives of Caroline and Ruth, two (40-ish) friends of preposterous long-standing. Life certainly hasn’t turned out quite as it was supposed to for the celtic pair as they navigate their way through grief and joy in the most surprising situations, but they battle on having moved their original baggage from substantial trunks into roomier skips….. and finally to a more commodious landfill site in the borders. Baggage embraces and celebrates the absurdity and richness of life; the humour, the sadness, the nonsense, the sexy nights in and bitterly cold Edinburgh nights out; the complaining (those cobbles, those hills, that weather) and the relishing (the views, the culture, the chip shops) of life in one of Europe’s most beautiful capital cities. Baggage is funny and poignant and seriously ridiculous; a bit like life really.
Many thanks to Jim D for contributions to this page.
Series 1
1. Midsummer Mayhem. Its Edinburgh. Its Midsummer. Caroline is having a very bad time for the very first time, not helped by Fiona taking up residence in her bath, and made much worse by Ruth just being Ruth.
2. Festival Flatmates. It's the Festival. Our Celtic trio do an all-nighter, but what with dumped husbands, floundering new romances and half-drowned teenage boys - an early night might have been a better plan.
3. Halloween Havoc. At the castle's Halloween Ball, Caroline turns into Cinderella, and her ex-husband turns into a toad. Ruth and Fiona turn up to pick up the pieces.
4. Fireworks And Funerals. Caroline is torn between going to her boyfriend's mother's funeral or attending to Fiona's fugitive mum.
5. Christmas Crises. It's Christmas. It's a relaxed partner-free zone. Throw in a goose, a ghost and a garrulous whippet and you're all set. Unless of course, Fiona is in charge.
6. New Year, New Life. It's Hogmanay. It's time for resolutions. Caroline is determinedly moving on, Fiona may be moving back and Ruth is definitely staying exactly where she is.
Series 2
1. Lovesick And Sickening. It's February and it's freezing outside. Inside, the temperature is rising. Caroline and Simeon are loved-up; Fiona and Ruth are fed-up; three's company but four is definitely a crowd.
2. Procreation And Procrastination. It's almost spring and there are armies of babies everywhere. Caroline grapples with incipient broodiness, her sister's colicky newborn and a major revelation from Simeon.
3. And So To Bath. It's springtime and life is supposedly moving on. But with relocation in the air and a school reunion to be negotiated with Fiona and Ruth, Caroline is in a flap.
4. The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Lover. Living in summer is not easy. Caroline's ex-husband finds himself a new husband, Fiona's mother finds herself lost and Ruth gets lost trying to find herself. Attempts to make sense of it all result in alcohol-fuelled bedlam.
5. Highland Fling. Caroline's birthday in the wilds of the Highlands finds a newly sober Ruth reinventing herself, Fiona having a Highland fling and Caroline finding that her fling is well and truly flung.
6. Perpetual Emotion. At the Edinburgh Festival, the trio deal with a pair of pleading ex-lovers, a disconcertingly charming stranger and a life-and-death bedside vigil. Who needs drama on the Fringe?
Series 3
1. The Homecoming. Ruth may be in love, Fiona may be in labour and Caroline may wish she hadn't bothered coming home at all.
2. Family Matters. Families and flats are being reconstructed all round. Caroline has a thoroughly modern dinner with her ex-husband and his new husband. She has to tackle an astonishing request.
3. The Regeneration Game. Caroline's adoption journey stalls when both her social worker Miriam and Fiona's baby April insist on arriving early.
4. Not Quite Part Of The Plan. In summertime, the living is far from easy. Caroline and Ruth struggle with Fiona's post-natal aggression, unaware that the worst is yet to come.
5. Human Doings. Ruth jumps off the wagon when her boyfriend's past catches up with him. Caroline falls at the final adoption hurdle. Fiona tries to get everyone to just stand still.
6. Keep Right On To The End Of The Road. Caroline, Fiona and Ruth climb their biggest mountain yet, terrified that they may all fall over the edge.
Series 4
1. Ashes To Auld Reekie. It is a year since Caroline's best friend, Fiona, died, but an unexpected visitor, a skinny dip in a Highland loch and an illicit kiss mean that scattering her ashes doesn't quite go according to plan.
2. Carping Diem. It's Festival time and Caroline is in love: great timing for her best friend Ruth to habitually invade her privacy, her toddler daughter April to be teething and her larger-than-life dad Hector to turn up unannounced.
3. The Father, The Mother, Her Dead Friend And Her Lover. It's autumn, but life in the flat is still hotting up. An unplanned dinner party sets the scene for some serious seduction tactics, Hector's secret is finally revealed and there is nothing cool about Caroline's temper.
4. Tales Of The Unexpected. It's December in Edinburgh, and the Christmas spirit is in short supply. The spirit of whisky, however, features heavily, as Ruth decides whether or not to risk falling off the wagon and Caroline and Roddy risk seriously falling out.
5. For A' That And A' That. It's Burns' night and passion and politics are to the fore. Tensions abound at the prospect of baby April spending the weekend with her birth father and Caroline frets over why her own father isn't spending the night at home.
6. You're A Long Time Dead. It's summer and all change all-round. Caroline struggles to come to terms with Ruth now being her dad's lover and agonises over Roddy's shock proposal.
