Chance in a Million

Plot

The series follows the developing relationship between Tom Chance and Alison Little, from their first meeting through to marriage. Tom is frequently the victim of unlikely coincidences, almost always to his detriment; his surname reflects nominative determinism. He is aware of these coincidences and describes them as a disability, yet remains stoical, often advising to go with the flow. Tom meets Alison by chance at a hotel: Tom is there for a blind date with a woman also named Alison, while Alison Little has arranged to meet her cousin Tom for the first time since childhood. Alison works as a librarian and appears meek and passive, though her even meeker parents consider her a tearaway. Tom is shy toward Alison and oblivious to her romantic and sexual advances, which are mostly implied and discreet. Alison falls in love with Tom at first sight and wants their friendship to become more intimate. Crucially, Tom realises that Alison is immune from suffering too badly from the consequences of his coincidences, though she is always involved as events unfold. Alison is in her twenties; Tom is probably in his early thirties. Tom's character is bombastic and old-fashioned, a callback to Victorian or Edwardian middle- or upper-class characters. He speaks in short staccato sentences like a telegram, without personal pronouns or conjunctions. In other ways he is modern, such as his ability to drink a whole pint of lager in one gulp while speaking; a trick glass holding a fraction of a pint was used for this.