Pete’s a pedantic and obsessive music therapist who works with children and practices from home. He’s brilliant at his job but since Emma died he’s struggled to keep the family functioning.

Emma’s fiery, impulsive and possessive. She was the glue that kept the family functioning. It was never polished but she got things done.

They have two kids – Sofia (13) their theatrical and emotional daughter, and Cooper (10) their blunt and conservative son.

The series picks up 12mths after Emma’s death as the family gather to scatter her ashes. Emma’s got no idea how or why she’s back. The whole ghost thing has her stumped. But now she is back, she’s determined to once again take charge.

Emma’s feisty and funny and doesn’t take crap from anyone. Even though she’s dead she’s very full of life. The series isn’t about what Emma doesn’t want, but what she does want. She’s torn between her need to make the family work and her sense of being shunted aside if they move on without her.

She tries to come to terms with being a mother from a distance. For someone who was so hands-on, it’s a massive adjustment. She’s forced to reassess what she is now she’s not that mother.

Pete faces different challenges. He’d tightly controlled and managed every aspect of his life and he’s now in a situation he can’t handle, he’s just got to feel. And that’s not his happy place. He’s the guy who always thought he had all the answers and he’s having to deal with the fact he doesn’t.

And the one person who should have some of the answers doesn’t because she wasn’t paying attention in the afterlife. Emma has all the rules mixed up – as in life she hasn’t read the manual – and isn’t sure how things works. She has to work it out for herself.

Throughout the series, we find out more about the afterlife and part of what we come back to each week is this cosmology.

Emma just wants to put the family back together but the pieces no longer fit, so Pete and her need to find a way to make it work.

Pete’s confused. He loved Emma, but had started to move on and has recently developed feelings for another person. And for the first time, the other person is a man – Trevor – an intense and enthusiastic gardener cum greenie who’s quick with advice and wears his heart on his sleeve.

While part of Pete is excited by the new feelings, another part of him falls in love with Emma all over again.

The show’s about second chances, new beginnings and the grass not always being greener on the other side. It asks how can you start over when you can’t escape your past and takes a fresh look at parenting, multigenerational families and life in the burbs.

30min pilot script.
Written by Iain Crittenden