Certified

In a quiet Yorkshire village, a man who’s spent his life dodging responsibility is suddenly faced with unexpected births, chaotic weddings, and bizarre deaths.

Certified is a character-driven comedy-drama that follows several pivotal years in the life of Tom Walsh, a man who spends most of his adult life convinced happiness exists somewhere else.

Born in the cosy Yorkshire market town of Settle, Tom has always felt quietly disappointed by the life laid out for him. He craves love, purpose, and stability, but when those things arrive, he panics. Instead, he runs away from responsibility, away from consequences, and ultimately away from himself.

The series moves between the beauty of the Yorkshire Dales and modern energy of Leeds, charting Tom’s messy, often funny, and deeply human attempts to build a life. Along the way there are births he isn’t prepared for, weddings that spiral into chaos, and funerals that reveal more about the living than the dead.

At its heart is Tom’s relationship with Dawn, a woman who sees through him immediately. Where Tom avoids emotional truth, Dawn lives in it. Their relationship becomes the emotional spine of the series, tender, strained, and ultimately transformative.

But Certified is not simply about romance. It’s about fathers and sons, and the complicated legacy they leave each other. It’s about the stories families don’t tell, and the moments that quietly shape us. It’s about grief arriving without warning, and humour appearing where it has no right to exist.

In the tradition of the great Sally Wainwright’s work, the series finds warmth, wit, and emotional honesty in ordinary lives. The drama never loses sight of the absurdity of being alive.

Ultimately, Certified asks whether happiness is something you find, or something you learn to recognise.

And whether, after everything, it’s possible to finally come home.