I rarely leave bad reviews, but this show was painful to watch and I consider my review a PSA.
The gambling addiction was dealt with like a 10 year old would write a script. There was no consistency, or resolution. You end the show knowing whatever money her or her friends make will still be eaten up by her addiction.
Central character takes money from her kids, her friends, her Ex, her lodger, her mark (from the trading con) No regrets or even acknowledgement. Just a quick apology and she's forgiven. No one loses £1,500 without some anger.
Then we get to the Insider Trading, which please may I reiterate, is ILLEGAL. The show ended with it being a good idea, a victimless crime, easy to get away with and you can just be invisible and listen to gossip and then can makes £000s. Maybe the script writers don't know we have a body called the FCA that monitors illegal activity, no matter how small, for repeated success in short and long sells.
She manages to convince people she's a trader called Nancy just by wearing red lipstick and a fancy coat. And they trust her with £50k?! These traders aren't stupid. They're reckless with other people's money but never their own. Do the script writers not know what happened during the double dip recession?
Then there is setting up a cleaning company with 3 people. Even my practice will not hire a small cleaning team due to reliability issues. There is no chance of law firms, accounting firms suddenly going for a new outfit. Facilities Managers are notoriously hard to adapt and get appointments with.
And lastly, in the final short sell, her friend ploughs in all the money, and she takes £14k of the £16k they make to pay a personal debt.
Her friend started with £2.5k savings she slogged years for. At the end she has £2k to set up a business with 2 others and a dodgy van. Friend is shown to be sweet and simple. I call it exploitation.
I feel like I've lost hours of my life for very little gain. Definitely a short sell which didn't pay off!