It’s not often you will find me obsessed with something. Other than my kids of course. And I don’t easily become obsessed with TV shows, besides that time I lost all sense of reality and got sucked into 4 day marathon watching Lost. I knew we had a problem when we had escaped the city for the weekend to enjoy nature and as we lay in “bed” one night we contemplated driving the two hours back home in the middle of the night to carry on watching season 4. Yup, we were having such bad withdrawals that we were thinking about leaving the beautiful Theewaterkloof just to get back onto the couch. Disgusting.

Ok so come to think of it, Prison Break, Breaking Bad and This Is Us have probably also been the object of my obsessive TV viewing over the years too. But that’s really about it. Also, since welcoming Netflix into our home, it seems the quality of great TV series are few and far between. (Is it just me or are some shows really B grade? ) So when I do find a hidden gem it feels like that much more of a treat. And I’m sure you all feel the same – stumbling upon a great show or movie when you least expect it is something quite special.

So you can imagine how stoked I was to find a Series that drew me in from the get go. Offspring is an Australian series which follows the life of a quirky obstetrician named Nina Proudman and her unique and somewhat dysfunctional family. It’s a mix of hilarious comedy as well as sentimental drama as it delves into the many deeper issues that many woman are faced with. And it couldn’t have entered my life at a more perfect time as I enjoyed the first town months of Hunter’s life snuggling with her on my chest as I watched episode after episode.

Image courtesy of : news.com.au

 Here are 8 reasons why I think every woman needs to watch this series: 

1. Nina represents the dorky nerd in every one us. She can be awkward while still being cute and highly intelligent. She tends to retrieve into her head a lot (something I think most of us tend to do) and we get a to see her play out certain scenarios as she grapples with many of life’s mysteries. While we may not go as far as seeing people blow up or hot men in hunting suits with bears draped over their shoulders, there is something about her hilarious way of making sense of life that appeals to all women.
2. It highlights some very significant topics that many women are faced with in the real world – Miscarriage, Abortion, Adoption, Infertility, surrogacy Infidelity and the many challenging aspects of motherhood. It focusses a lot on the bonds of family, whether biological or otherwise and deals with loss in many different shapes and forms – death of a parent, a baby and a partner. I love that it also explores the effects of introducing a step father will have on her daughter.
3. It’s so realistic. The amount of times I have gone “Oh my gosh, that’s exactly what happens in my house!!” are countless. From Zara being late for work while looking for clean pants as she chases her kids around the house to Billie picking up the baby with burp cloth over her shoulder and struggling to get a wind out.  It depicts the reality of having kids perfectly and in such beautiful detail – in one scene Nina is running late and calls Billie to tell her that there’s expressed milk in the fridge for her daughter Zoe and in almost every single episode the kids are very much ‘there”.  Most TV shows don’t really do a great job of showing these small details – the finer details of life with children, like finding a baby sitter and getting them to eat their veggies. In one episode you even see the struggle Nina endures to express milk at work.
4. It’s full of babies being born and funny hospital banter! If you are anything like me and love seeing new life enter the world, you will love this series. And the wonderful different scenarios of each scene is amazing. In one episode you see a blind woman give birth and it’s enough to wreck havoc with your insides like never before. So many beautiful scenes of babies fresh out the oven!
5. You get a profound glimpse into Nina’s work family and see how important good friends and work colleagues are. They are fight like family but love each other like family too.
6. They follow Billie’s journey of infertitly and her descison to close the door on that part of her life. It speaks to the small percent of woman who decide they don’t want to have kids and how theres nearly really nothing wrong with that. Kids are not always the answer to all happiness.
7. There is plenty of romance. And not the over the top gooey stuff, but rather the very real kind. She has a few flings but you discover that Nina has three real solid relationships with three very gorgeous men, one of whom she has a daughter with. Through all three of these relationships she grows and learns new things and works through some very real challenges and heartaches.
8. Her family is the most important thing to her just like many of us. Even through all of her relationships, her one “mistake” is that she often puts her family first. She drops everything to run to the needs of her family and sometimes you see how that effect her relationships. But like many of us, we put our kids needs above everyone, even our spouses and so we can easily relate. In one of the last episodes, Nina says something like “ Food for thought – I’ve known my family longer than I’ve known anyone” It reminds us that no matter what, family will always be there.

Heraldsun.com.org.

So if you have Netflix and are looking for a great Series to indulge in, this is by far one of my best! If you have watched it I would love to know what you think. I know I have a weird tastes in movies at times.

Hi I’m Leigh! Did you enjoy reading this post? I really hope so and would love you to stick around a little longer! Please feel free to browse my blog for other articles or to keep up with all the latest news and to be the first to hear about some great competitions, come and find me me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. You can also email me directly at leeloobaggins@hotmail.com or simply subscribe below and never worry about missing out!