What was your journey with Dobby?

So until recently I thought it was an unpopular opinion to not like Dobby (probably because Peep Show night emphasized how much people liked her). But then on rewatching her earlier appearances (I’m usually a series 1-4 kind of person), I actually thought she worked really well. So I want to know:

• Did you hate Dobby from the start?

• Did you never hate Dobby?

• Did you start to hate her over time?

• Did you like her more over time?

For me I really like Dobby up until the scene where Mark takes over from Gerrard at the pub. It wasn’t a light switch moment but she stops acting like a real person. Before that she kind of doesn’t know how to take Mark sometimes but still clearly is interested. After that the conversations with her seem to stop flowing like she’s an NPC waiting for decision tree dialogue. Then by the time of Gerrard’s funeral she just seems to become a total plot device - both want to and not wanting to move in with Mark and it really not being clean what her motives is from any perspective - and being totally oblivious to Mark’s clear disdain for Gerrard… I don’t know about you but I don’t think I’d have much time for a romantic partner who bought a football cake for my best friend’s funeral.

There are a few other things that get me:

• Why is there never a scene where Dobby addresses how fucked up Mark’s life is? Like in the space of her first appearance there’s the stationary cupboard and then his wife passed out drunk in a club and it’s never outright mentioned.

• I don’t mind her being bolshy with Mark’s parents having obviously been from a different background but she did not fit in with Simon’s friends and it felt very forced.

• Why’s it never mentioned that Dobby’s flat is way nicer than Mark’s ex council flat? I get she probably doesn’t own it but there was probably some arrangement to it.