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Monday Monday

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Monday Monday
Genrecomedy drama
Written byBen Edwards[1]
Rachel New[1]
Jack Lothian[1]
Malcolm Campbell[1]
Harry Wootliff[1]
Directed byRoger Goldby[1]
Nick Laughland[1]
Martin Dennis[1]
StarringFay Ripley
Morven Christie
Holly Aird
ComposerSimon Lacey[1]
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes7
Production
Executive producerMargot Gavan Duffy[1]
ProducerAlison Davis[1]
EditorsMatthew Tabern[1]
Peter Oliver[1]
Steve Singleton[1]
Running time45. minutes approx
Production companyTalkback Thames
Original release
NetworkITV1
ReleaseJuly 13, 2009 (2009-07-13)

Monday Monday is an ITV comedy drama. It stars Fay Ripley, Jenny Agutter, Neil Stuke, Holly Aird, Morven Christie and Tom Ellis.

It is set in the head office of a supermarket that has fallen on hard times and had to re-locate its staff from London to Leeds.[2] The show was initially announced as part of ITV's Winter 2007 press pack, but was "iced" until 2009 due to falling advertising in the wake of the economic downturn.[2][3]

Background

The show is named after The Mamas & the Papas song with the same name, though does not feature the song as a theme tune.

The show was commissioned by ITV's director of drama, Laura Mackie.[1] Mackie said that the show aimed to "entertain, engage and strike a chord with the audience”.[1] Although the show was initially announced as part of ITV's Winter 2007 press pack, it was put on hold until 2009 due to falling advertising rates in the wake of the economic downturn.[2][3] According to Broadcast, the show aimed to "shed light on a world of alcoholic HR bosses, power-crazed managers and sexually unfettered PAs".[2]

Towards the end of the series, Christine is shown to be an alcoholic, which she eventually admits, which the programme uses to draw pathos on the plot. The fact she is an alcoholic is left to speculation in the early episodes. As the series progresses the failing life of Christine becomes more central to the plot.

Plot

The show features a group of head office workers for struggling supermarket chain Butterworths.[4] As a result of down sizing, the workers are forced to move cities, relocating from London to Leeds.[2]

Cast

Management

Human Resources

Marketing

  • Neil Stuke - Max Chambers, Acting Head of Marketing
  • Laura Haddock - Natasha Wright, Marketing Assistant (prev. PA to Vivienne Wyatt. With Vivienne off sick recovering from cancer, Natasha is seconded to Max Chambers)
  • Saikat Ahamed - Vince, PA to Max Chambers & Natasha Wright (prev. PA to Max Chambers)

Finance

Building Services & Facilities Management

Shop Floor

The departments named above are the main departments focused on but other departments are mentioned or featured on presentations. They include:

  • Contracts
  • Sourcing
  • IT
  • Design
  • Property
  • International Sales
  • National Sales

Butterworths Group PLC

Butterworths Head Office The Head Office is arranged into a North Wing and a South Wing on all Floors above the Lower Ground Floor.

  • Lower Ground: Canteen, Building Services/Property/Facilities Management & Sourcing
  • Ground Floor: Marketing (South) Meeting Area (North) & Reception/Security in Centre
  • First Floor: Human Resources (South) Contracts (North)
  • Second Floor: International Sales (South) Finance & Chief Executive's Office (North)
  • Third Floor: National Sales (South) Design (North)

Other Services than Retail are Insurance Sales. Each department is managed by a Department Head and Each Department Head has a Personal Assistant

Broadcast and reception

The show did not receive good reviews. Tim Walker of The Independent stated that the shows rival in the same timeslot, BBC One show The Street was "a darn sight more interesting than watching Fay Ripley walk into doors". Walker said that the show was filled with shots of Leeds, saying that the show was purely "advertising it as an attractive nightlife destination" or "to prove beyond doubt that ITV was fulfilling its obligations to the regions." (something that may have been fitting with ITV mothballing many parts of its Leeds Studios the same year).[5] Sam Wollaston of The Guardian also criticised the show saying that it was "lame and laboured, tired and predictable".[6]

The poor reception was reflected in the shows ratings, the show bringing in 3.7 million, a 16% viewing share, six percent and 1.3 million viewers lower than The Street. The show, however, was second in its timeslot, beating the other three terrestrial channels in the slot.[7] Despite being second in the timeslot, the show was down on the 5.6 million for ITV1's channel slot average so far in 2009.[8]

Not helping matters in terms of viewing figures was the fact that STV continued its recent trend of declining high-ticket ITV productions, thereby avoiding having to contribute to the production cost on a pro rata basis, and so Scottish viewers of terrestrial broadcasts were unable to view the series. The series average, based on overnight ratings was 2.90m, equating to a 13.2% viewing share.

Date Overnight rating
(millions)
Share Official rating
(millions)[9]
Weekly rank Source
Episode 1 13 July 3.65 16.2% 3.81 19 [10]
Episode 2 20 July 3.40 15.0% 3.20 24 [11]
Episode 3 27 July 2.62 12.1% n/a 30+ [12]
Episode 4 3 August 2.63 12.2% n/a 30+ [13]
Episode 5 10 August 2.68 12.3% 2.69 28 [14]
Episode 6 17 August 2.47 11.3% 2.54 29 [15]
Episode 7 24 August 2.84 13.2% 2.86 24 [16]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p "Monday Monday Press Pack Summer '09" (PDF). ITV/Talkback Thames. Retrieved 2009-07-04.
  2. ^ a b c d e Rogers, Jessica (2007-11-14). "Shaps hails new era in ITV drama". Broadcast (subscription). EMAP. Retrieved 2009-06-04.
  3. ^ a b McMahon, Kate (2009-02-11). "ITV vows 'iced' dramas will go out this year". Broadcast (subscription). EMAP. Retrieved 2009-06-04.
  4. ^ "Monday Monday". ITV. Retrieved 2009-07-04.
  5. ^ Walker, Tim (2009-07-14). "Last Night's Television - Monday Monday, ITV1; The Street, BBC1". The Independent. Independent News & Media. Retrieved 2009-07-14.
  6. ^ Wollaston, Sam (2009-07-14). "Last night's TV: The Street, Monday Monday". The Guardian. Guardian Media Group. Retrieved 2009-07-14.
  7. ^ Roberts, Tom (2009-07-14). "TV ratings: The Street cleans up amid news of likely demise". The Guardian. Guardian Media Group. Retrieved 2009-07-14.
  8. ^ Rogers, Jon (2009-07-14). "BBC1 is right up the viewers' Street". Broadcast (subscription). EMAP. Retrieved 2009-07-14.
  9. ^ "Weekly Top 30 Programmes". Broadcasters' Audience Research Board.
  10. ^ French, Dan (2009-07-14). "'The Street' return draws 5 million". Digital Spy. Digital Spy Limited. Retrieved 2010-03-20.
  11. ^ Wilkes, Neil (2009-07-22). "Friel's 'Street' appearance draws 5.1m". Digital Spy. Digital Spy Limited. Retrieved 2010-03-20.
  12. ^ French, Dan (2009-07-29). "Armstrong's 'Street' appearance draws 4.4m". Digital Spy. Digital Spy Limited. Retrieved 2010-03-20.
  13. ^ French, Dan (2009-08-04). "1.6m discover 'The Trouble With Girls'". Digital Spy. Digital Spy Limited. Retrieved 2010-03-20.
  14. ^ French, Dan (2009-08-11). "1.7 million go 'On Tour With The Queen'". Digital Spy. Digital Spy Limited. Retrieved 2010-03-20.
  15. ^ French, Dan (2009-08-18). "1.7 million watch Andre 'Going It Alone'". Digital Spy. Digital Spy Limited. Retrieved 2010-03-20.
  16. ^ French, Dan (2009-08-25). "'The Hotel Inspector' ends on series high". Digital Spy. Digital Spy Limited. Retrieved 2010-03-20.