TOM FRANCIS
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Round Up Of Contemporary Television Dramas About Two Women Who Switch Identities

There are a lot of these, and I think I’m watching them all. Let me know if I missed one, I will watch basically anything with this concept.

Revenge

Woman 1: daughter of a wrongly convicted terrorist.
Woman 2: juvenile offender.

Why switch? Both need a fresh start. Which should mean that switching achieves nothing, but oh well.

Is one of them rich and the other poor? Yes.

Does one of them find she’s better at living the other’s life? Yes, both.

Does one of them fall in love with the other’s boyfriend? Yes.

Does one of them turn out to be in terrible trouble despite their perfect-seeming life? No, actually.

What’s the quirk? This is the only one where the two women aren’t related and don’t look alike: they switched identities when they were young and no-one knew them.

Ridiculousness: actually quite low – they switched when neither had much of a life to slip into, so it’s believable that everyone they know now accepts their stated identities.

Fun: low, it takes itself pretty seriously.

Actually any good? Quite. Awful narration, but lead character is pleasantly vicious.

Ringer

Woman 1: drug abuser in the witness protection program.
Woman 2: her twin sister, an affluent socialite.

Why switch? Socialite vanishes, presumed dead, witness uses her identity to hide from pursuers.

Is one of them rich and the other poor? Yes.

Does one of them find she’s better at living the other’s life? Yes.

Does one of them fall in love with the other’s boyfriend? Yes.

Does one of them turn out to be in terrible trouble despite their perfect-seeming life? Haha, yes.

What’s the quirk? The switch isn’t mutual, which leads to some awkwardness.

Ridiculousness: extreme. Sarah Michelle Gellar’s only way of expressing nervousness is to speak while rapidly exhaling and looking down, but everyone seems OK with this. A federal agent is actively investigating the disappearance of her identical twin by repeatedly interviewing her, finding her weirdly unfamiliar with her own life, and never suspects a thing.

Fun: absolutely – probably the silliest both in feasibility and sheer barrage of major, untenable plot developments.

Actually any good? No, terrible. But in a fun way.

The Lying Game

Woman 1: sweet kid in a bad foster home.
Woman 2: her twin sister, an affluent high school socialite.

Why switch? Socialite asks twin to fill in for her while she goes hunting for their birth parents.

Is one of them rich and the other poor? Yes.

Does one of them find she’s better at living the other’s life? Yes.

Does one of them fall in love with the other’s boyfriend? Yes.

Does one of them turn out to be in terrible trouble despite their perfect-seeming life? Not really.

What’s the quirk? It’s the rich one who wants the switch, at least initially.

Ridiculousness: medium. She doesn’t really attempt to act like the entitled jerk she’s replacing, and she’s trying to fool her sister’s adoptive parents every day. But since the rich sister is out of town, there’s not much awkward clashing.

Fun: yep, in a high school drama sort of way.

Actually any good? Not really.

Orphan Black

Woman 1: deadbeat rocker mum.
Woman 2: I enjoyed the moment this is revealed, so I won’t spoil it. Safe to say she has money, though.

Why switch? The mum is broke, wants money to run off and make a fresh start with her daughter.

Is one of them rich and the other poor? Yes.

Does one of them find she’s better at living the other’s life? No, to a hilarious extent.

Does one of them fall in love with the other’s boyfriend? Not as far as I’ve seen.

Does one of them turn out to be in terrible trouble despite their perfect-seeming life? Yes.

What’s the quirk? Again, I think they’re best left unspoiled. There are several.

Ridiculousness: high.

Fun: enormously. Milks all the drama, humour and panic imaginable out of a single identity switch.

Actually any good? Yep, brilliant. Freakishly good performances from the lead, mad plot, fun characters, lots of mysteries.