“Last Tango in Halifax” tells story of a late-blooming love

Last Tango in Halifax
Sunday, Sept. 8
PBS, 8pm

It’s never too late for love to bloom as this charming yet gritty six-episode series shows. Thankfully it eschews most of the aren’t-old-people-cute clichés that could have made the tale of Alan (Derek Jacobi) and Celia (Anne Reid), who meet up some 60 years after they went to school together and promptly decide to get married, insufferable. This has unforeseen consequences on each of their families, namely their grown daughters (Sarah Lancashire, Nicola Walker) who have serious relationship issues of their own. Jacobi and Reid deliver masterful performances, and it’s incredibly refreshing to see elderly characters treated as flesh-and-blood people instead of embarrassing comic relief. The BAFTA-winning series recently began filming a second season.