Bump

Throughout, Bump is nicely written and performed, packed with bittersweet, wry observations on blended families, lifestyle shocks and everyday existence.

Bump is now free to become something akin to a genuinely funny, satisfyingly realistic, and surprisingly cool soap opera. The latter quality is partly a result of the show’s distinctively Aussie vibe.

It takes no effort to return to this world, that’s for sure: the tone is light but meaningful, and the characters keep growing on you.

The real-life magazine plotline quickly gives way to a story about how a baby disrupts and enriches the lives of its parents, no matter their age or situation, and how family can draw very different sets of people together.

Both Oly and Angie are funny and emotionally complex characters, and Karvan delivers an exceptional, understated performance.

It treats Oly’s surprise pregnancy as a fact of this girl’s life, and it will be interesting to find out how she manages being a mother and an overachieving student.

The series never recaptures the emotional gut-punch of the unwitting young mother having this huge, unwanted change foisted upon her in the first episode. This is ultimately the story of a teenager who decides to choose motherhood. And unfortunately, to tell it another way would not be in service of that story.