Shark Bytes

I didn't like this show to begin with, but how can they expect people not to notice that there's a different actress? The character suddenly gets massive cosmetic surgery and changes personality?! It's almost offensive that the producers think they can get away with that without the audience noticing.

I thoroughly enjoyed this show.Wonderful performances by Eve Matheson,though she perhaps struggled with the Cockney accent(Her accent varied throughout the first 2 Series,it seemed to me).Hilary's character may have been a bit overdone,nonetheless very likeable.I would like to draw attention to a few anomalies:::
1.Jamie tells Zoe in the Pub that Alecs wife died 6 Years ago.(When he was 47)
2.Alec tells Zoe in the Restaurant that he was married for 31 Years(Married at 16!!!)
3.Zoe's Flat appears with both Number 3 and 9 on the door.

Tiny oversights in what was a fine show.

Wonderful show. I disagree with the majority of the posters. I think the first Zoe was a talented, funny, feisty actress but she had no sexual chemistry with Alec. They just seemed like good friends. It felt logical that the second actress and Alec would be together, they just looked right. When they kissed, they really got into it. The actor that was all wrong was that Welshman that Zoe was dating before she met Alec. He was creepy and unbelievable as a ladies' man. I missed Hilary when she left, but as funny as she was it was unrealistic that a girl that dumb would get hired unless the boss was trying to get her in bed. The new one was funny, but I needed subtitles because of her thick Scottish accent. Now she's on Ugly Betty. Lastly, the theme song had to be the worst in sitcom history.

The final year when the new girl with the exaggerated accent replaced Hilary as the receptionist was clearly the downward slope of this show's arc but I was still happy to see the characters' stories wrapped up. Switching Zoe was not that big a deal. The second actress played Zoe for most of the run anyway. Kudos to the show's creators for portraying this different type of loving couple without being cliche or trite. I've kept most of the series on tape thankfully since it only appears on reruns around every third year or so.

I have only seen a handful of episodes of this show, but this is my favorite BritCom. (Good Neighbors is a close second.) My PBS station (KERA in Dallas, TX) has a huge BritCom lineup, but they rarely ever mention this show when they do pledge telethons and BritCom specials. I fell head over heels in love with Alec and the actor who played him. When I was 28, I was in love with a 53-old man with grown children, and every time I see this show, I remember that relationship. The episode that really nailed it was when Alec finds out that he has a heart problem (I think), and Zoe freaked out about it. At the end of the episode, he talks to her about the fact that he knows she will outlive him, and that he will not be able to spend the whole of her life with her. I cried buckets. Wonderful show.

I loved this show, but when they changed Zoe; That was it for me. Well, I lie I still watched it. But it wasn't as good.

When the original Zoe left, so did the charm that came with the character. Instead of a feisty divorcee with a head on her shoulders, the replacement seemed whiny, angry and unfunny. While I continued to watch because Alec was always wonderful, and all the supporting characters delightful, the shark was always lingering after the change.