Q&A with Adele

Both Martha and Eliza are envious of the others’ life style. It seems the grass is often greener on the other side for many of us these days. Why do you think this might be?

I’m not sure that envy is a recent phenomenon: if it was then Moses wouldn’t have included the commandment, ‘Thou shalt not covet thy neighbours wife’ on his stone tablet, all those years ago. But, it might be that we are especially prone to envy nowadays because we have much more choice and instead of this making us feel more content we constantly worry that we’ve chosen the wrong route and that we could have done better if we’d married someone else, taken different subjects at school, bought a property in a different part of town etc. etc. Personally, I don’t understand envy: it’s a waste of energy. I’d rather improve my own lot than worry that someone else’s grass is greener.

Before the break up of her marriage, Martha seemed to have turned into the proverbial downtrodden housewife? Can you relate to this at all?

I don’t think Martha was ever the proverbial downtrodden housewife. After all, she‘s affluent, she has healthy children, a lovely home - stacked with an array of mod cons - and her husband’s not cruel, drunken or abusive. Just because she’s a devoted home maker and wife doesn’t mean she’s downtrodden. But she does suffer from a lack of self-confidence and I think those that work in the home are sometimes prone to this.

After a fruitless search for the perfect man, Eliza finds her soul mate was right there all the time – in her less-than-perfect boyfriend Greg. Do you think many women have unrealistic ideals of what relationships should be?

Absolutely. I get a bit bored of hearing women complain that there are no men out there and then in the next breath they produce a list of what they want from a man that’s longer than a six year olds list to Father Christmas. Of course we should have standards and of course we all have deal breakers: I think women should be choosy when it comes to assessing their potential mate for decency, wit, morality, humour and even sex appeal. But I get extremely cross when girlfriends specify a certain income bracket, brand of clothes, type of car or postcode that they are looking for in their perfect boyfriend. Shallow, shallow, shallow! I’ve heard of guys being dumped because he sleeps on the wrong side of the bed, the colour of his duvet, his like/dislike of ‘Love is’ cartoons or his fondness for Smash potato. But then men are just as bad and are often more demanding with regard to potential partner’s personal appearance. It’s enough to make you despair for the human race. Except I don’t do despair, it’s not my style.