Lip Service (TV series)

Lip Service
Title Card
Format	Serial drama
Created by	Harriet Braun
Written by	Harriet Braun
Directed by	John McKay
Starring	Laura Fraser Ruta Gedmintas Fiona Button Emun Elliott James Pearson Roxanne McKee Heather Peace
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Production
Executive producer(s)	Derek Wax
Production company(s)	Kudos Film & Television BBC Scotland
Broadcast
Original channel	BBC Three
External links
Website

Lip Service is a British television serial drama portraying the lives of a group of lesbians living in Glasgow, Scotland. Production on the series, which stars Laura Fraser, Ruta Gedmintas and Fiona Button, began in summer 2009 in Glasgow. The show debuted on BBC Three on 12 October 2010. The series will screen in Australia on the Showcase channel commencing 19 June 2011. A second series was confirmed with filming beginning on 30 May 2011, to be aired on BBC3 in spring 2012^{[citation needed]}

Cast

Actor	Role
Laura Fraser	Cat MacKenzie
Ruta Gedmintas	Frankie Alan
Fiona Button	Tess Roberts
Emun Elliott	Jay Bryan Adams
James Anthony Pearson	Ed MacKenzie
Roxanne McKee	Lou Foster
Heather Peace	Sam Murray
Natasha O'Keeffe	Sadie Anderson
Cush Jumbo	Becky

Episodes

№	#	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	Production code	Viewers
1	1	"Episode 1"	John McKay	Harriet Braun	12 October 2010 (2010-10-12)	101	580,000
When Frankie returns to Glasgow to investigate a mysterious message left by her dying aunt, her sudden reappearance rocks ex-girlfriend Cat, who is re-entering the dating scene after Frankie left her heartbroken two years earlier. Will her blind date with policewoman Sam be ruined? Aspiring actress Tess has a humiliating run-in with her ex-girlfriend, but things start to look up when she finds herself being hit on by a gorgeous, and supposedly straight, TV presenter.
2	2	"Episode 2"	John McKay	Harriet Braun	19 October 2010 (2010-10-19)	102	579,000
Frankie puts herself in danger as she follows a lead that might unravel the mystery of her past. Fate gives Cat a second chance when she runs into policewoman Sam, but is she really ready to forget Frankie? Tess makes a fool of herself on live television and it becomes clear that Lou is nowhere near ready to go public with their relationship.
3	3	"Episode 3"	Harry Bradbeer	Chloe Moss	26 October 2010 (2010-10-26)	103	464,000
Cat and Sam are enjoying a honeymoon period, but cracks begin to show as Frankie's presence becomes an issue. Jay sets out to prove that he's not too old for the office intern, but has to think on his feet when a flirtatious encounter leaves her unconscious. Tess gets more than she bargained for when she turns up at Lou's flat unannounced and there's a shocking revelation that throws Frankie's very identity into question.
4	4	"Episode 4"	Harry Bradbeer	Julie Cearey	2 November 2010 (2010-11-02)	104	580,000
Cat puts her relationship on the line when she lies to Sam while Tess tries internet dating but finds no luck. Frankie and Jay make what seems to be a big mistake.
5	5	"Episode 5"		John Jackson	9 November 2010 (2010-11-09)	105	508,000
It's Tess's birthday but the party does not quite go as planned.
6	6	"Episode 6"		Harriet Braun	16 November 2010 (2010-11-16)	106	534,000
Tess has an audition that could change her career but gets stuck in a lift with Jay. Meanwhile Sam confronts Frankie, leaving the latter to buy a ticket to go back to New York. Cat attempts to stop Frankie from leaving Glasgow.

Production

Braun was asked by the BBC to create a UK based lesbian drama; she stated that the first scene that came to mind when she began writing was "a woman crying in an inappropriate place after finding out her ex is seeing someone else" followed "someone returning from New York and throwing her ex into a state of panic". From those two scenes came the three lead characters: Tess, Frankie and Cat.

Braun gave each of the actors an outline of their character, and then let them develop the full characterisation. For Gedmintas, this included cutting her previously long blonde hair to a close cut bob. The director gave each cast member a manual on lesbian sex, which they were expected to read before shooting began. The series was shot in its entirety in Glasgow in winter 2009/10.

Reception

Ratings

The first episode debuted with 580,000 viewers, picking up an additional 8,000 viewers on the BBC HD channel. It had an audience share of 4.4%.

Critical response

The opening episode received mixed reviews from critics. Claudia Cahalane of The Guardian wrote that it was "hugely significant" for a drama to normalise lesbian and bisexual relationships, citing a study of BBC output which found that lesbians contributed to just two minutes of programming from a randomly selected 39 hours of broadcasts. While Cahalane expressed disappointment that the episode did not represent butch lesbians, she deemed it "important to recognise Lip Service for the great service it's doing to British lesbians." Keith Watson of the Metro attacked the series' tokenism, suggesting that it included lipstick lesbian clichés to meet the BBC's diversity quota, and commenting that, "It was trying so hard to be modern and liberated but it felt tired and lazy". The Independent's Amol Rajan criticized the episode's "pathetically vacuous plot", calling the series "spirit-cripplingly tedious". He expressed sympathy for the "clearly talented" cast, opining: "In trying to make a point about the importance of engaging with lesbian issues, this show ends up trivialising them. The lesbians are presented to us not as interesting people, or characters who warrant sympathy; rather, they matter purely because of their sexual preferences. That is immature, patronising, and unrealistic." Evangelical pressure group the Christian Institute reported that the episode had prompted complaints from viewers over its sexual content.

External links

• Lip Service at BBC Programmes
• Lip Service at the Internet Movie Database