I started watching this series from the beginning. For the first season it was on the surface another Cold Feet clone. However the series soon proved to me that it had something else to offer viewers. Cold Feet, for all its strengths, took the route of being rather angst ridden shortly into its run. Big Bad World on the other hand focused a lot more of the comedy at the time providing one relationship that was completely stable (unlike the rocky relationship it was based upon in Cold Feet) and another that was entirely routed in the televisual tradition of the will they/wont they relationship.
Then the first season ended and the series was unheard of for a few years. When next it showed it's head the show was dramatically altered, episode length was halved as was the cast with absolutely no mention of the missing characters, essentially the show was rebranded from comedy-drama to a more conventional sit-com. Of course being on ITV this meant it now was rubbish and nobody watched it again.