"Puppy Love" was created by Joanna Scanlan and Vicki Pepperdine, both of whom star in this program. Scanlan plays Nana V, a dog trainer who's chronically in debt and frequently scheming to catch up with one bill or another, and Pepperdine plays Naomi Singh, a case worker for some non-profit youth organization.
Their lives become intertwined when Nana V's grandson Eron (played by Aron Julius) was placed in her home after his mom was sent to prison and Naomi was assigned to his case. Very quickly, Eron and Naomi's daughter Jasmine (played by Selina Borji) become romantically connected. Additionally, Naomi's family now has a young puppy named Charlie who's largely out of control. So she begins attending Nana V's dog-training classes.
I finally finished all six episodes of their series. It grew on me a bit, but the first few episodes really annoyed me. Let's get this out of the way. Naomi Singh is a snob. She means well, but she's snobby. She's the type of social worker who's out to save the world, but is visibly uncomfortable interacting with the people within that world. And she's pretty judgmental about the clients that she serves. If I could do anything about her character, I would encourage her to boost up her pragmatic empathy a bit and learn to keep her mouth shut.
But I also really grew to dislike how everyone around her treated her, especially in the first two episodes. Nana V kept conning her out of money and judging her in her own way. Her daughter was rude to her nonstop. Her husband Ravi was ever-distant, preferring to put all of his energy into his biking friends and leaving her out to drive when he came to parenting Jasmine and caring for Charlie.
And then there was this police officer in the second episode that was downright hostile towards Naomi. For example, Ravi left open the door so that Charlie got out and chased a neighbor's cat. Naomi was the one who got the lecture and the fine and the threats of legal action. And then there was this big dog-safety awareness event that the police put on. Naomi's dog got sick on the sidewalk and that police officer popped up immediately afterwards with another punitive fine. I mean, she didn't even have the opportunity to pick up after her dog!
I get it that British TV shows like to make fun of their buzzkill "health and safety" laws. I'm assuming that they exaggerate for their viewers, but there's a point where you are so outlandish and where you pile onto one character so much that it begins to lose credibility.
Relationships eventually settle a bit. Nana V and Naomi gradually make peace with each other their dysfunctional families eventually merge into something new and potentially interesting towards the end of the first season.
One thing that got me excited about "Puppy Love" early on was the inclusion of Tony, Nana V's live-in disabled ex-husband (or "wasband"). He was played by Simon Fisher-Becker, one of the special guests from the 2015 British Fest. It was fun watching him in action.
"Puppy Love" never moved beyond the first season, but that's probably just as well. It ended on a fairly good note and a second season would just force them to shake things up again.