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Bad Girls (TV series)

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Bad Girls
Bad Girls title screen.
Created byMaureen Chadwick,
Ann McManus
Starringsee below
Country of origin United Kingdom
No. of series8
No. of episodes107 (list of episodes)
Production
ProducerShed Productions
Running time60 / 90 minutes
Original release
NetworkITV1
Release1 June 1999 –
20 December 2006

Bad Girls was a British television drama series shown on ITV1 from 1999 to 2006. It was produced by Shed Productions, the company which later produced Footballers' Wives and Waterloo Road . It was set in the fictional women's prison of Larkhall, and featured a mixture of serious and light storylines focusing on the prisoners and staff of G Wing. The earlier series were rather gritty, whereas by the last couple of series, the show very much used its by-then far-fetched and over-the-top storylines as a selling point.

On January 11th 2007, Channel Five's sister channel Five Life won the rights to air Bad Girls along with fellow popular, axed ITV series Footballers' Wives. It is expected that they will show the series from season four onwards (which would tally with ITV3, who are currently showing season three).

Series

Bad Girls was so popular over in UK that ITV bosses wanted to sell it worldwide.

The first series of Bad Girls was shown on ITV1 in 1999, lasting 10 episodes. There have been eight series in total, ranging from 10 to 16 episodes. Christmas specials were produced in 2005 and 2006. All series have been shown on ITV1, at 9pm, the days varied between Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.

The 100th episode, part of Series 8, was shown on Thursday 3rd August 2006 at 9pm.

The earlier series are currently being repeated on Monday nights on ITV's sister channel ITV3 (formerly Monday nights). It is unconfirmed at present how many series they will show, although it is now rumoured they will only show one more series (series 3), as digital channel Five Life have acquired the rights to Series 4 onwards.

News has it that ITV have edited certain bits out in episodes from series 8. There is also a chance that scenes have been edited from the 2006 Christmas Special. The content contained a rotting hand appearing from a toilet, although it is not clear how edited (if at all) this was, as it appeared in the broadcast episode. It is unclear if some of these edits were for timing reasons, or due to content.

Early indications are that the second Christmas special, and final ever episode, which aired on 20th December 2006, had 4.8m viewers and a share of 25% of the audience winning the timeslot for ITV1.

The complete UK version of Bad Girls has been picked up by Logo (MTV Network's LGBT cable network). The premiere aired February 1st, 2007.

Broadcaster Five Life in the UK has bought the rights to air Series 4 + of Bad Girls as of this coming spring

Shed recently closed a deal with US channel FX, for them to create their own version of Bad Girls. A script has been looked at, and the first season of the American version of Bad Girls is likely to air in 2008. It is still unknown if the American version will remake the UK version (with the same storylines and characters), or if they'll start a-fresh, with new ideas. This at least means that Bad Girls has not been completely axed globally.

Bad Girls around the world

 Australia on Seven Network and UK.TV

 Estonia on Kanal 2

 Ireland on TV3

 New Zealand on TV One

 Sweden on TV4

 South Africa on M-NET

 United Kingdom on ITV1 (repeats on ITV2, ITV3 and Five Life [as of Spring 2007])

 United States on BBC America and LOGO

Cast

Note that this list is not complete

Prisoners

Officers

Others

Plot description

Template:Spoiler

Series 1

From the beginning, Bad Girls has dealt with controversial subject matter. Early episodes of the first series have included particularly shocking moments, such as a pregnant prisoner miscarrying in her cell, another prisoner being viciously strip-searched by fellow inmates for concealed drugs and another inmate committing suicide. The central story arc of the first three series revolves around the developing romantic relationship between Nikki Wade, a prisoner serving twelve years for murder, and Helen Stewart, the Wing Governor who spent much of series one engaged to her boyfriend. The story featured more than one kiss, and one bed scene, but never became graphic: many viewers regarded the subtlety of the portrayal of the relationship as one of its strongest assets. For this reason, Bad Girls has attracted a significant following within the lesbian community.

Other storylines to feature prominently in series one included the pregnancy of a young drug addict Zandra Plackett, the tragic story of teenage prisoner Rachel Hicks and her bullying by the other inmates, and the illicit relationship between Jim Fenner, the male senior officer and Shell Dockley, the resident bully and drug dealer, serving life for murder.

Series 2

Nikki and Helen's relationship deepens with Helen resigning from the Wing Governor's post and working as a new liaison officer for prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment, encouraging Nikki to continue her education and appeal against her sentence. Shell's background was examined in some detail, with harrowing scenes describing childhood abuse. Zandra's tragic story finally comes to a close when she dies from a brain tumor. For light relief, Yvonne Atkins, the gangster's moll, set up "Babes Behind Bars", a sex-hotline staffed by the prisoners with smuggled in mobile phones, playing such characters as "Whiplash Wanda", "Saucy Sonia" and "Vicky the virgin bride". Series two ended on a double cliffhanger, with Nikki escaping from Larkhall to be with Helen, leaving Helen to agonise over whether to contact the police, and Shell luring Fenner to her cell for sex, where she tries to kill him by stabbing him with a broken bottle.

Series 3

This series picks up from where we left off from the end of Series 2. Jim and Shell are in bed together and Nikki, dressed in her nurse's outfit, is at Helen's house after escaping. Shell stabs Jim with a broken bottle that she had brought back from Sylvia's party.

The third series saw a high turnover of short-term characters and storylines, but also chronicled the spectacular escape of Shell and young Denny Blood to the Costa Del Sol in Spain, Yvonne's top dog status being challenged by Maxi Purvis, the head of the "Peckham Boot Gang", prison officer Di Barker's struggles as a home carer for her invalid mother and an upbeat finale of Helen and Nikki finally committing to their relationship together when Nikki's appeal was successful and she was released from prison.

Series 4

From series four onwards, the storylines got darker and more fast-paced, but began to become more over-the-top, such as Jim Fenner being sexually harassed by the new gay Governing Governor, Neil Grayling. However, some more serious storylines included domestic violence within the relationship of Di Barker and Barry Pearce and teenage junkie Buki Lester's battle for the right to see her disabled son, Lennox. The fourth series ended with the prison library being obliterated as part of an escape plan by the devious Snowball Merriman, resulting in a fire that left Governor Grayling and several inmates trapped and fighting for their lives.

Series 5

The fifth series of Bad Girls took viewers to a dark, disturbing place, with numerous deaths, but some balance was provided by the brief return of Shell Dockley to G-Wing and the arrival of the Costa Cons - Bev Tull and Phyl Oswyn. The ongoing feud between warder Jim Fenner with his enemies - Wing Governor Karen Betts and top dog Yvonne Atkins - also reached its height by the end of series five, with evil appearing to triumph over good, as Fenner ruthlessly disposes of both Karen by framing her for a hit and run, and then Yvonne in a shocking end-of-series finale in which he leaves her to die in Larkhall's old hanging cell. Series five in many ways marks the end of an era for Bad Girls with several long-term prisoners and one prison officer making their last appearances.

Series 6

Series six continued the Fenner storyline, with the evil officer experiencing a mental breakdown after recent events and getting his come-uppance at the hands of Karen Betts and Neil Grayling, who join forces to finally defeat Fenner for good. Some dynamic additions to the cast were also made - in the form of sassy Wing Governor Frances Myers and amoral prisoner Natalie Buxton - to take the series in a new direction. The sixth series also features a crossover with Shed Productions' other hit series, Footballers' Wives, with the glamorous Tanya Turner imprisoned at Larkhall for three episodes. Karen Betts re-appears for a few episodes in this series. This series also saw the relationship between prison officer Selena Geeson and Kris Yates.

Series 7

Fenner is now locked in prison for the hit-and-run which occurred in series 5, but due to the devotedness of new wife Di, the lucky prison officer was allowed to see daylight again, and to return to his job on G-Wing (and even be promoted to Wing Governor!). But it's not long before everyone at Larkhall wants Fenner dead, and he is brutally stabbed in the bowels of the prison with a sharpened ice dagger. The increasingly mentally unstable Julie Johnston later reveals that she committed the crime to exact vengeance against him for all his past crimes, though it is Fenner's widow (Di Barker) who is arrested, charged and remanded in custody for the offence. Meanwhile, Natalie Buxton has taken over as G-Wing's new top dog and rules the women with a rod of iron, only to be challenged by newcomer Pat Kerrigan. More humorous storylines included officer Sylvia Hollamby's inheritance from her late aunt and her subsequent marriage to grasping Dr. Malcolm Nicholson, out to get his hands on her new fortune, and the Costa Cons escaping from Larkhall and returning to their old stamping ground in Spain. With the departure of Fenner, Sylvia Hollamby and the two Julies are the only remaining original characters.

Series 8

This final series of Bad Girls saw the long brewing rivarly between current "Top Dog" Pat Kerrigan and her bitter predecessor Natalie Buxton finally reaching boiling point. While Pat maintained her diplomatic rule over the wing, Natalie was etching out an existence of some status by becoming the wing's resident drug dealer. Pat was quick to spot Natalie's efforts to groom fellow inmate Janine into drug addiction and was quick to step in. However it wasn't until later, when Pat became aware that Natalie was using an innocent child to smuggle drugs into prison that things really heated up, with Pat soon formulating an elaborate plan to finally be rid of Natalie. Enlisting the help of Julie Saunders, Julie Johnston and Tina O'Kane (all of whom were oblivious to Pat's true intentions) Pat formulated an escape route with the intention of luring the opportunistic Natalie into her trap. Finally, on the day of Julie Saunders' son's wedding, Pat put her plans in motion. Natalie, having fallen for the trap hook line and sinker, made a break for it, assuming she was muscling in on Pat's escape attempt. However Pat had more sinister plans and after a violent brawl, she brutally killed Natalie with a blow to the head. It wasn't until later that Pat's accomplices realized Natalie was in fact dead and hadn't escaped (has Pat had previously led them to believe rather than admit to the real reason behind Natalie's absence). For the rest of the series, Pat (and later the Julies after discovering Natalie's corpse hidden away in the freezer) worked desperately to move Natalie's decomposing corpse around the prison in fear she would be discovered. Eventually, Pat desposes of the body by dumping it in one of the prisons storm drains, believing that to the end of it.

Other major storylines in this series involved the blossoming romance (and subsequent pregnancy) of inmate Janine and new officer Donny Kimber as well as the new wing governor's romantic involvement with the new medical officer who was secretly collecting information for research to produce a revealling documentary of life behind bars. Also, iron fisted Governor Joy Masterton was shocked to discover new inmate Stella Gough was in fact her daughter (the result of an alleged rape many years earlier). Although considerable effort on Stella's part eventually led to Joy finally recognising Stella as her daughter and accepting her, Joy's revelation that the rape allegations were in fact false and were in fact fabricated to more easier allow her to put Stella up for adoption caused a volatile reaction from her daughter, who was later transferred.

Another major feature of this series was the considerable number of guest stars and short term characters. Although the past few series usually made an effort to include one high profile, one episode guest character (usually an inmate), this series, no fewer than three highly used short term characters were used, all with their own storylines.

A Christmas Special from this series and also the last ever episode featured Sylvia and the revelation that everyone on G-Wing and her own son hated and where fed up of her. As the women prepared for Christmas, she shocked them all by putting them on lock down, due to staff shortage. It was already a nasty Christmas so far; Natalie Buxton's rotting body had blocked the drains and was causing the whole prison to stink. Janine went into Labour in her cell leaving Bev to deliver the baby as Sylvia chose to ignore the alarm bell. Meanwhile, the two Julies went into the prison sewer to find Natalie's body and get rid of it. One of them managed to move her decomposed body, but Natalie was not yet done with spreading her evil. As Sylvia aka "bodybag" returned home, she dreamt that the spirit of Buxton had come back to tell her just how hated she was. This caused her to have an epiphany, and allowed a party with wine to be held in G-Wing. With Julie's son showing up with her grandson, Janine and Donny's baby surviving and Sylvia's son coming to visit, the series ended on a high, proving that even the most evil soul can be changed by eight years in a prison. She also spoke the final words of the show to Phyl and Bev. As they inform her of their interests of training as midwives, Sylvia sees through them and warns them that "...once Christmas is over it's be back to business as usual..."

The final episode deliberately concentrated heavily on Sylvia Hollamby and the two Julies, the three characters to have been present right through the series from the very first episode.

Cancellation

ITV decided not to commission a ninth series of Bad Girls, although Bad Girls was getting excellent summer viewing figures, the last episode (Christmas Special) on the 20th December 2006 raked in 5.13million viewers [1]. The decision followed months of speculation about the future of the programme. ITV announced this was due to a huge facelift of all programmes on ITV, and followed the cancellation of sister show "Footballers Wives".

Bad Girls: The Musical

see also Bad Girls: The Musical

A theatre version of the popular series. The Musical is based around the events of the death of inmate, Rachel Hicks. Many of the original depictions of Series 1 are implemented in the Musical, including the love between Wing Governor Helen Stewart and lifer, Nikki Wade.

Criticism

Bad Girls endured much criticism over its storylines and characters during its run. Many real-life prison officers have argued that whilst bullying, drug use and prostitution are unfortunate and inevitable parts of prison life, they are never as bad as the show portrays them. [citation needed] Two incidents in the series' run (the death of Maxi Purvis and the death of Jim Fenner) have seen senior officers demoted for a lack of supervision and organisation. The prison advice bureau has argued that under normal circumstances these officers would be sacked immediately rather than have their rank reduced. [citation needed] The antics of "The Costa Cons", with their frequent (successful) escape attempts and smuggling of drugs and alcohol into the prison is also highly unlikely. [citation needed]

Recurring elements

Weapons The bar of soap in a sock has been seen twice. It was first seen when Maxi Purvis and Al MacKensie beat up Tina Purvis in her cell in Series 3. Next seen when Natalie Buxton and Janine Nebeski beat up Arun Parmar in the library in Series 7.

Weapons II The razor blade (often embedded into a toothbrush handle) makes frequent appearances. It was first seen when season two newcomer Renee Williams removes it from her mouth after her induction to the prison. She tries using it on Yvonne Atkins in one of the bathrooms but Nikki intervenes. Next seen with Al MacKensie threatens Shaz Wiley in Series 3. Next seen when Maxi Purvis uses one in her fight with Shaz in Series 4. Shell returned in series 5 with a razor blade and threatened Snowball Merriman with it. Next seen with Arun Parmar shaving in Series 7. Most recently in Series 8 Pat Kerrigan used one to force Natalie Buxton to take a handful of pills.

Homosexuality in the Hollamby Bloodline Ironic considering Sylvia's disgust with any homosexual behaviour. First hinted at after Bobby Hollamby's death in Series 5 when we learn from Sylvia that their son, Bobby-Darren "lives with a pal". Series 7 fleshes it out completely when we learn Sylvia's Aunt was a lesbian and Bobby-Darren is still not married. He later became sexually involved with Governor Neil Grayling but with the abrupt death of Neil at the start of Series 8 this subplot has probably ended. In the 2006 Christmas Special, Sylvia became annoyed at her son Bobby-D for getting with a new man.

Letters to Mrs Fenner Twice we've seen letters written to Jim Fenner's wife telling of his affairs and twice they've helped bring about the failure of those marriages. Shell Dockley wrote to Marilyn Fenner at the end of Series 1. Natalie Buxton wrote to Mrs Di Fenner in Series 7.

Top Dogs There has always been a 'top dog' of G-Wing and every top dog has eventually fallen from grace in some (usually violent) manner. First, Shell Dockley who was ultimately sent to a secure prison hospital, but was not before Yvonne Atkins knocked her off her perch at the end of the first series then became top dog herself slowly as her character progressed during the second series. Yvonne always seemed reluctant to be 'top dog' like fellow respected inmate Nikki Wade. However all the inmates respected her and many feared her if they crossed her. Shell Dockley still claimed to be top dog despite her downfall in series 2. Shell won her status back by stabbing Jim Fenner, but even Shell never challenged Yvonne and for the most part kept out of her way. Yvonne was eventually locked by Fenner into a disuesed cell deep under the prison. She either died of starvation and dehydration or she suffocated due to lack of oxygen beneath the prison (as Fenner stated: "Don't bother screaming, you might want to save on the oxygen). Her death was probably the most gruesome. At the beginning of the next series, her heavily rotting body was found by Kris Yates. Next, Maxi Purvis who choked herself to death by swallowing tissues. There was a brief instance of Phyl Oswyn laying claim to the title in the early episodes of series six, in particular heading the trade of drugs within the prison, but she was quickly put in line by the arrival of no-nonsense, ball-breaking Wing Governor Frances Myers. The next, conventional 'Top Dog' was Natalie Buxton. Like Shell Dockley, Natalie was manipulative and used her position more to exploit the others rather than help them. She was knocked off her perch by Pat Kerrigan, who beat up Natalie during a fight to secure fragile inmate Arun's safety within the prison. Although most of Natalie's gang stuck by her after this, everyone turned their back on her when Pat set up a scam to trick Natalie to revealing her crimes of selling children as sex slaves (which she had always vehemently denied, and for the most part was believed by her fellow inmates). After Pat played back a tape to the wing containing Natalie's confession, she was jeered at and since then, has been ostracised. Now, Pat Kerrigan appears to be in hold of the title, although she is clearly reluctant to accept it. Natalie and Pat have since been onvolved in another fight, in which Pat killed Natalie by slamming a rock into her head. Pat eventually managed to dispose of Natalie's quickly decomposing corpse by, with the help of the Julies, shoving it down a manhole in the laundry room.

Luck Jim Fenner has had a lot of this. Helen Stewart described it as 'the luck of the devil'. Interestingly Fenner's brand of cigarette, revealed in Series 7 is 'Lucky Strike'.

£50,000 This large sum of money is used throughout Bad Girls. After Sylvia falls down a flight of stairs, Yvonne suggests a lawyer, claiming a friend received £50,000 as compensation for an accident. At the end of series four, Snowball and Richie try to cheat Yvonne out of £50,000, and in series five, Sylvia and Bobby end up in debt by £50,000. Finally, towards the end of series 7, the amount of money set for Di's bail is £50,000.

Russian Mafia When Phyl and Bev are convicted in series 5, they claim that it was the fault of the Russian Mafia. Two series later, Phyl and Bev got their own back by stealing diamonds from the same party.

The curse of the Dorm Over the eight series, the four bed dorm was the location for the demise of some of the prisoners. The first inmate to die was Rachel Hick, who hung herself in Series 1. She was later followed by Zandra Plackett who died of a brain tumour. Other inmates included, Renee Williams suffered an allergic reaction caused by Yvonne Atkins in Series 2, Shaz Wylie who died in the fire at the end of Series 4, Al McKenzie poisoned in Series 6. Although Renee and Shaz never actually died in the dorm, they did sleep in there at some point. Iroically all of them at some point had slept in the same bed as Rachel Hicks did.

The latest victim was Ashlee Wilcox in Series 8, who died from legionnaires' disease.

Bad Girls Anonymous

Bad Girls Anonymous (commonly shortened to the initialism, BGA by its members) is a discussion thread started in August 2005, created as an online community for Bad Girls fans. It now thrives on well over 10,000 messages, posted by nearly 100 different members, and resides in the Soaps section of British entertainment forum, Digital Spy. It's one of the few remaining places on the internet where the drama is actively discussed through friendly banter and debate, episode reviews, quizzes and games and the regular posting of fanfics and music videos. Sister programmes Footballers' Wives and Waterloo Road are often mentioned, too.

Go to BGA

Region 2 DVD releases

Series 1-8 of Bad Girls are available on DVD in the UK (Region 2). Series 1-7 are available on DVD in Australia (Region 4). Series 1 was released on DVD in the United States on June 7, 2005.

DVD Name Release Date Additional Information Photo
Bad Girls -

Series One

June 18 2001 4 Disc DVD set that contains all 10 episodes from the show's first series.

Bonus features:

  • Documentary: Bad Girls in Oxford
  • Commentary Track: Episode 10
  • Cast Interviews:
    • Simone Lahbib (Helen)
    • Mandana Jones (Nikki)
    • Debra Stephenson (Shell)
    • Jack Ellis (Jim)
    • Alicya Eyo (Denny)
    • Helen Fraser (Sylvia)
    • Victoria Alcock (Julie S)
    • Kikia Mirylees (Julie J)
  • Outtakes
  • Fan Featurette: Bad Girls Book Signing
  • Photo Library
 File:Bad Girls 1.jpg
Bad Girls -

Series Two

October 1 2001 4 Disc DVD set that contains all 13 episodes from the show's second series.

Bonus features:

  • Gallery 1: Behind The Scenes
  • Gallery 2: The National TV Awards
  • Bad Girls In South Africa: Documentary
  • Outtakes
  • Deleted Scenes
  • Cast Biographies
  • Producer Biographies
 File:Bad Girls 2.jpg
Bad Girls -

Series Three

March 25 2002 5 Disc DVD set that contains all 16 episodes from the show's third series.

Bonus features:

  • Interactive Map Of Larkhall Prison
  • Outtakes
  • Prison File: Behind The Scenes, Subsidiary Character Profiles and Interviews:
    • Sharon Duncan-Brewster (Crystal)
    • Victoria Bush (Tina)
    • Pauline Campbell (Al)
    • Jack Ellis (Jim)
    • Claire King (Karen)
    • Simone Lahbib (Helen)
    • Nathan Constance (Josh)
    • Helen Fraser (Sylvia)
    • Lara Cazalet (Zandra R.I.P)
    • Kiki Mirylees (Julie J)
    • Lindsey Fawcett (Shaz)
    • Mandana Jones (Nikki)
    • Tracey Wilkinson (Di)
    • Linda Henry (Yvonne)
  • Audio CD: features music from Series 3
 File:Bad Girls 3.jpg
Bad Girls -

Series Four

June 9 2003 5 Disc DVD set that contains all 16 episodes from the show's fourth series.

Bonus features:

  • Series One - Feature Length Version
  • Outtakes
  • Tour of The New Exterior Set - With Jack Ellis (Jim)
  • International Promo Trailer
  • Fan Event With Simone and Mandana (Helen and Nikki) (2000)
  • Gallery
  • PC Wallpapers
 File:Bad Girls 4.jpg
Bad Girls -

Series Five

August 23 2004 4 Disc DVD set that contains all 16 episodes from the show's fifth series.

Bonus features:

  • Outtakes
  • Photo Gallery
 File:Bad Girls 5.jpg
Bad Girls -

Series Six

June 25 2005 3 Disc DVD set that contains all 12 episodes from the show's sixth series.

Bonus features:

  • Outtakes
  • Interviews:
    • Tristan Sturrock (Colin)
    • Antonia Okonma (Darlene)
    • Amanda Barrie (Bev)
    • James Gaddas (Neil)
  • The King In Larkhall
  • Tanya Turner - The Ultimate Bad Girls
  • Bad Girls - The Musical
 File:Bad Girls 6.jpg
Bad Girls -

Series Seven

August 7 2006 4 Disc DVD set that contains all 12 episodes from the show's seventh series, as well as the Christmas special.

Bonus features:

  • Photo Gallery
  • Christmas Special
 File:Bad Girls 7.jpg
Bad Girls -

Series Eight

December 26 2006 3 Disc DVD The Final Series Set contains all 10 episodes from the show's eighth series, as well as The One-Off Special which marked the last ever episode of Bad Girls.

Bonus features:

  • Photo Gallery
 File:Series 8 BGDVD.jpg

External links

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