Girls On Top
| Girls On Top | |
|---|---|
 From bottom left to bottom right: Amanda Ripley (Dawn French), Lady Chloe Carlton (Joan Greenwood), Shelley DuPont (Ruby Wax); From top centre to top right: Candice Valentine (Tracey Ullman) and Jennifer Marsh (Jennifer Saunders). |
|
| Format | Situation comedy |
| Created by | Dawn French Jennifer Saunders Ruby Wax |
| Starring | Dawn French Joan Greenwood Tracey Ullman Jennifer Saunders Ruby Wax |
| Country of origin | UK |
| No. of episodes | 13 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 30 mins |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | ITV |
| Original run | 1985 – 1986 |
Girls On Top was a British television sitcom on ITV from 1985 to 1986. It starred French & Saunders, Ruby Wax and Tracey Ullman, and was written by French, Saunders and Wax with additional material from Tracey Ullman. Despite a low budget and poor critical reception, the series was a ratings success. It was made for the ITV network by Central Independent Television.
The show focused on four female flatmates and their landlady. The characters were stereotypes with little depth and the comedy focused on conflicts from their personalities. It was an attempt at a female version of The Young Ones, two series of which were made in 1982 and 1984. Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders had both appeared on it and, like most of its stars, were members of The Comic Strip group (Saunders is also married to Adrian Edmondson, one of the "Young Ones").
The theme tune was written and performed by Glenn Tilbrook and Chris Difford from the British band Squeeze (with the cast singing the theme for the first series, and Tilbrook singing for the second).
Contents |
[edit] Characters
- Amanda Ripley (Dawn French), a radical feminist who is straitlaced, anti-male and liberal; the character around whom the series was based. Like Shelley, she takes her efforts too far when she has something to prove. Amanda tries to hide her fascination for men. All in all though she was generally the most level headed of the group.
- Jennifer Marsh (Jennifer Saunders), a mousy and childlike woman (whom Saunders portrays as having mild learning difficulties) who serves as the whipping post for everyone else. In the second series she is more assertive though no less naive.
- Shelley DuPont (Ruby Wax), a struggling actress and the British stereotype of a gaudily dressed, rude, loud-mouthed American.
- Candice Valentine (Tracey Ullman), a promiscuous, lazy, manipulative gold-digger. In the second series, Candice has died, each girl fearing she is to blame. This turns out to be a prank, as they receive a recorded message from Candice saying she is engaged to someone with more money than Shelley. She is not heard or spoken about after this episode.
- Lady Chloe Carlton (Joan Greenwood), an eccentric elderly romance novelist and the landlady of the girls' flat.
Others in cameo roles included Helen Lederer, Pauline Melville, Helen Atkinson Wood, Mark Arden, Stephen Frost, Robbie Coltrane, Harry Enfield, Hugh Laurie, Pauline Quirke, Alan Rickman, John Sessions and Arthur Smith plus the Beverley Sisters and American Soap (TV series) star Katherine Helmond, who appeared once as Shelley's mother.
[edit] Synopsis
The first episode had Amanda struggling to find a flat and managing to procure one (that she cannot afford) from Lady Carlton. The former resident, Candice, convinces Amanda to let her stay until Wednesday because she has nowhere to go. Then Jennifer, Amanda's childhood friend, arrives unexpectedly with nowhere to go. Eventually Shelley is recruited to move in because none of the others can afford to cover the rent and deposit.
Each episode centered on the fact that Shelley could order the others around because they relied on her to get the rent paid; usually the show incorporated Candice's latest invented fatal illness, or any other reason to not pay the rent. One episode had Candice convincing everyone she was dating Prince Andrew while another found her tricking Shelley into starring in a porno movie.
Tracey Ullman left after the first series due to her pregnancy. A variety of stars filled the second series.
[edit] Episodes
NOTE: these episode descriptions are taken from the sleeve of the DVD release, released by Network
Note: The transmission dates reflect those in the London ITV region. Alternative transmissions in other ITV regions are not listed.
Series One
- Four-Play
- Amanda manages to snag herself a flat in Chelsea but is unable to pay for it herself. She has no other choice but to look for flatmates.
- Guest: Alan Rickman
- Written by Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders and Ruby Wax
- Directed by Paul Jackson
- Original ITV transmission: Wednesday 23 October 1985 8:30pm
- Staying Alive
- Candice is cultivating her latest illness; Amanda is quoting liberally from her latest publication "Spare cheeks"; Shelley has failed yet another audition; and Jennifer, well, she's just Jennifer.
- Written by Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders and Ruby Wax
- Directed by Paul Jackson
- Original ITV transmission: Wednesday 30 October 1985 8:30pm
- C.O.D.
- Candice arrives home with her latest Latin lover, Julio, but just as they're about to get down to the nitty-gritty, they are aware that there is another in their company - the inevitable Jennifer.
- Guest: Robbie Coltrane
- Written by Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders and Ruby Wax
- Directed by Paul Jackson
- Original ITV transmission: Wednesday 6 November 1985 8:30pm
- Cancel Toast
- It's Shelley's big day. Can her ambition to become the next Glenda Jackson finally be realised at her audition for RADA? However, instead of asking her to do Shakesperean Juliet speech, they want her to improvise. . . as a fried egg.
- Written by Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders and Ruby Wax
- Directed by Paul Jackson
- Original ITV transmission: Wednesday 13 November 1985 8:30pm
- Ident: Candy Time
- Amanda is miffed that Candice is not paying her way with the rent even though she keeps buying expensive clothes. Shelley suggests that Candice could be a prostitute so they all decide to follow her one day.
- Written by Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders and Ruby Wax
- Directed by Paul Jackson
- Original ITV transmission: Wednesday 20 November 1985 8:30pm
- Skankin'
- Annoyed at not being asked to help with the street festival, Amanda goes out into the streets of Chelsea to look for needy people. She pounces on two black boys and then phones the festival organiser to say she has found her a reggae band.
- Written by Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders and Ruby Wax
- Directed by Paul Jackson
- Original ITV transmission: Wednesday 27 November 1985 8:30pm
- Hark
- Oh horror! Oh Calamity! Oh Jennifer! She who is lacking in almost everything, plumbs new depths when she takes Josephine, Lady Carlton's stuffed black dog, for a walk and promptly loses her in a shop. The girls plan various schemes, including a stuffed coypu, and giving Lady Carlton a message "from heaven" by a teddy bear, which is supposed to be Josephine, transformed into an angel.
- Written by Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders, and Ruby Wax
- Directed by Paul Jackson
- Note: This is the final appearance of Tracey Ullman as Candice Valentine.
- Original ITV transmission: Wednesday 4 December 1985 8:30pm
Series Two
- Mr Fluffy Knows Too Much
- Shelley and Amanda stir Jennifer into comforting Candice about her pornographic habits which have corrupted even Lady Carlton. But Candice has left a note saying she's in hospital. . .
- Guest: Harry Enfield
- Written by Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders and Ruby Wax
- Directed by Ed Bye
- Original ITV transmission: Thursday 30 October 1986 9:00pm
- Big Snogs
- The women at Spare Cheeks are taking classes in electrical repair work which is now being taught Tom, whose sister can't make it. Amanda, always on the lookout for a man, falls head over heels in love.
- Guest: Hugh Laurie
- Written by Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders and Ruby Wax
- Directed by Ed Bye
- Original ITV transmission: Thursday 6 November 1986 9:00pm
- Who's Ya Uncle, Shelley?
- Once the subject of an exploratory brain operation (nothing was found), Jennifer suddenly reaches hitherto unknown areas of intelligence when she becomes a financial whizz-kid.
- Guests: John Sessions and Pauline Quirke
- Written by Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders and Ruby Wax
- Directed by Ed Bye
- Original ITV transmission: Thursday 20 November 1986 9:00pm
- Bring Me More Flamingoes
- Shelley is determined to be a megastar but, at her glam/glit party, the only invitees who bother to turn up are The Beverley Sisters and the loopy Lade Carlton.
- Guests: The Beverley Sisters
- Written by Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders and Ruby Wax
- Directed by Ed Bye
- Original ITV transmission: Thursday 27 November 1986 9:00pm
- Mr Yummie Brownie
- Shelley's mother pays a surprise visit and is expecting her offspring to be a fully-fledged member of the Royal Shakespeare Company by now. She is a touch disappointed to discover that Shelley is with a theatre in education group. . . playing a tadpole
- Guest: Katherine Helmond
- Written by Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders and Ruby Wax
- Directed by Ed Bye
- Original ITV transmission: Thursday 4 December 1986 9:00pm
- Lower the Donkey
- Lady Carlton has won a new kitchen in a competition but when her microwave explodes, all the lights go out and Shelley thinks that the world is about to end. She grovels her way into Amanda's makeshift shelter but finds there's no food there so they send Jennifer out to forage.
- Written by Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders, and Ruby Wax
- Directed by Ed Bye
- Original ITV transmission: Wednesday 11 December 1986 9:00pm
[edit] DVD releases
| DVD Name | Release Date | Additional Information | Region |
|---|---|---|---|
| Girls on Top -
Set One |
2003 | Single disc DVD, containing all episodes from the first series.
Special features:
|
Region 1 (US) |
| Girls on Top -
Set Two |
2003 | Single disc DVD, containing all episodes from the second series.
Special features:
|
Region 1 (US) |
| Girls on Top - The Complete Series | 2007 | Two Disc DVD set, containing all 13 episodes from Series' One and Two.
Special features:
|
Region 2 (UK) |
| Girls on Top - The Complete Series | 2007 | Two Disc DVD set, containing all 13 episodes from both Series' One and Two.
Special Features:
|
Region 4 (Australia/New Zealand) |
[edit] Crew
- Dawn French - Writer
- Jennifer Saunders - Writer
- Ruby Wax - Writer
- Ben Elton - Script Editor
- Paul Jackson - Director (series 1)
- Ed Bye - Director (series 2)
- Allan McKeown - Executive Producer
- Paul Jackson - Producer
