Bad Girls is a British television drama series that was broadcast on ITV from 1 June 1999 until 20 December 2006. It was created by Maureen Chadwick and Ann McManus of Shed Productions, who initiated the idea of developing a series primarily focusing on the inmates and staff of the fictional women's prison, Larkhall, located in the South London region. Following the success of previous series Within These Walls and the Australian-imported Prisoner: Cell Block H, both of which screened on ITV, Bad Girls was commissioned by the network and was viewed as a realistic, modern portrayal of life in a women's prison. The series featured a large ensemble cast, including Linda Henry, Claire King, Simone Lahbib, Mandana Jones, Debra Stephenson, Jack Ellis, Alicya Eyo, Helen Fraser, Kika Mirylees, Victoria Alcock, James Gaddas, Victoria Bush, Dannielle Brent and Liz May Brice.
Unlike past prison series, Bad Girls storylines were portrayed in a more graphic manner in terms of violence, language, and sexual content, as prior shows were somewhat more restrictive in content. Common themes in the series include separation from families, recidivism and adjustment to prison life, while storylines concern the friendships and relationships between the inmates and staff alike, and to a more serious extent, the series focused on sensitive issues such as bullying, rape, suicide, miscarriage, drug use and violence against women, and as a result, was screened past the watershed. It is also notable in that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender characters are portrayed in a more permissive way.
The show achieved critical acclaim, becoming immensely successful, particularly throughout the course of its first three years. It constantly attracted high viewing figures, peaking at 9.49 million viewers during the ninth episode of the second series, the highest rated episode of any series produced by Shed Productions. The series began to decline very slightly during its fourth and fifth series' due to an overturn of popular characters, yet the show remained successful in the ratings. However, its popularity began to rise once again with the show's sixth series. This was followed by a rapid decline for the seventh and eighth series', which ultimately led to the show's demise. Due to its success, the series received numerous awards, most notably at the National Television Awards, a crossover with Footballers' Wives, and a musical adapted from the original series, titled Bad Girls: The Musical. Bad Girls gained international success in countries including the United States, Australia, Ireland and several European countries.
Production Development Extensive research was covered prior to the production stage of the series on the lives of British female prisoners. Ann McManus and Maureen Chadwick, as well as several cast members, spent months visiting prisons during 1998 and 1999 in order to gather information and research on incarcerated women to inspire their roles for the series and how prisons had currently been run. McManus and Chadwick studied everything in detail on television series' set within women's prisons, including ITV's 1970s series Within These Walls, Network Ten's Australian soap opera Prisoner: Cell Block H, which was first broadcast on ITV in 1984 until the late 1990s, and several prison documentaries, in addition to three books which McManus had written and all of which were presented to the cast. In order to continue their research, in January 1999, McManus and Chadwick attended an AGM of Women in Prison, a support group for female prisoners, to address such issues within female prisons, consulting former prisoners such as Chris Tchaikovsky, and organisations such as NACRO and the Prison Officer's Association.Devlin, Angela
Filming The series was commissioned by ITV under the working title Jail Birds and commenced filming in February 1999. However the show's name was later changed after a BBC One documentary series about women in prison used the same title a few months before the first series was aired.
The exact location of the fictional HMP Larkhall was never revealed, although in series 1, episode 4, character Shell Dockley mentioned it was 'not far' from Clapham. There were several other references through the series that alluded to it being in the South London region, but no specific location was given. Several districts of the London area were referenced throughout the series run, these include: Peckham, Clapham, Acton, Catford, Streatham, Sydenham, Tooting, Stratford, Balham, and Bethnal Green. HM Prison Oxford, located within Oxford Castle, was used for the exterior shots featured in Series 1 to 3. The interior scenes featured a replica set of the prison's wing and constructed within 3 Mills Studios. A reconstruction of the prison's exterior was also created for series 4 onwards, as HM Prison Oxford had by then been redeveloped into a hotel complex. After ITV decommissioned the series in October 2006, 3 Mills kept hold of a prison exterior and a single cell. Before it was largely dismantled, the exterior and interior sets were used in series 3, episode 11 of Waterloo Road and series 23, episode 89 of The Bill. The music video for Rachel Stevens' 2005 UK single "I Said Never Again (But Here We Are)" was also filmed on the set.
Many scenes outside of Larkhall were filmed on location, usually around London, with numerous London landmarks being visible in shots. Real houses were used for prison officers houses, rather than sets. Four episodes included scenes filmed outside of the UK, two episodes in series 3 had scenes that were filmed in Spain, the first episode of series 5 opened with a scene in Amsterdam, series 7 featured scenes filmed in Peru, but set in Costa del Sol.
Music For the first series of Bad Girls in 1999, the complete music score and theme was composed by award-winning composer Nina Humphreys. The theme music did not play over the end credits of episode 4, and was replaced with the song Amazing Grace, performed by Sharon Duncan-Brewster (Crystal Gordon). In 2000, Kath Gotts became the credited composer for the remaining duration of the series, resulting in a major revamp of the incidental music score, the recap music and newly established theme music, introduced for the second series. As with the first series, the theme music played over the end credits in Series 2 as the 5-second opening title contained only short instrumental music. For the third series a new 20-second opening sequence was introduced which contained various shots of G-wing, and a second version of the theme music was created by Gotts so that the series could be recognized as having official opening titles. Towards the end of the third series, a third and final version of the theme music was placed over the opening sequence, which slightly differed from the previous music, and remained as such for the show's duration. In 2002, a soundtrack CD was released as part of the original Series 3 DVD, featuring the music score from the third series and including both opening and closing theme music, recap music, and "next time" music, as well as the incidental music. The soundtrack is currently unavailable as the DVD set is now out-of-print. Furthermore, Gotts composed the entire music and wrote the lyrics for the adapted musical, Bad Girls: The Musical.
Format Bad Girls was an early example of a British television series to be produced in widescreen format 1.78:1.Gardiner, Paul Although most of Britain were still viewing standard screen televisions, the early years of the series were seen in a format of 14:9 on analog televisionElen, Richard G. and cropped to pan and scan for the DVD releases of the first three series. These early episodes have been re-screened on ITV3 and CBS Drama in their original format and were later re-issued in widescreen on DVD.
Cast and characters
Main Simone Lahbib as Helen Stewart (Series 1–3) Mandana Jones as Nikki Wade (Series 1–3) Debra Stephenson as Michelle "Shell" Dockley (Series 1–3, special guest Series 5) Jack Ellis as Jim Fenner (Series 1–7) Alicya Eyo as Daniella "Denny" Blood (Series 1–5) Joanne Froggatt as Rachel Hicks (Series 1) Luisa Bradshaw-White as Lorna Rose (Series 1) Joe Shaw as Dominic McAllister (Series 1–2) Helen Fraser as Sylvia Hollamby (Series 1–8) Kika Mirylees as Julie Johnston (Series 1–8) Victoria Alcock as Julie Saunders (Series 1–8) Lara Cazalet as Zandra Plackett (Series 1–2) Jane Lowe as Monica Lindsay (Series 1, guest Series 3) Sharon Duncan-Brewster as Crystal Gordon (Series 1–4) Linda Henry as Yvonne Atkins (recurring Series 1, main Series 2–5) Claire King as Karen Betts (Series 2–5, special guest Series 6) Nathan Constance as Josh Mitchell (Series 2–3, recurring Series 4) Tracey Wilkinson as Diane "Di" Barker (Series 2–7) Philip McGough as Dr Malcolm Nicholson (recurring Series 2–3, 5, main Series 6–7) Isabelle Amyes as Barbara Hunt (Series 2–5) Lindsey Fawcett as Sharon "Shaz" Wiley (Series 2–4) Lisa Turner as Gina Rossi (Series 3) Paul Opacic as Mark Waddle (Series 3–4) Kim Oliver as Buki Lester (Series 3–5) Kerry Norton as Maxine "Maxi" Purvis (Series 3–4) Victoria Bush as Tina Purvis / Julie O'Kane / Tina O'Kane (Series 3–8) Pauline Campbell as Alison "Al" McKenzie (Series 3–6) James Gaddas as Neil Grayling (Series 4–7, guest Series 8) Kellie Bright as Cassie Tyler (Series 4) Siobhan McCarthy as Roisin Connor (Series 4) Nicole Faraday as "Snowball" Merriman (Series 4–5) Tristan Sturrock as Colin Hedges (Series 5–7) Stephanie Beacham as Phyllida "Phyl" Oswyn (Series 5–8) Amanda Barrie as Beverly "Bev" Tull (Series 5–8) Charlotte Lucas as Selena Geeson (Series 5–6) Jennifer Ness as Kristen "Kris" Yates (Series 5–6) Eva Pope as Frances Myers (Series 6) Dannielle Brent as Natalie Buxton (Series 6–8) Antonia Okonma as Darlene Cake (Series 6–8) Nicola Stapleton as Janine Nebeski (Series 7–8) Rebecca Hazlewood as Arun Parmar (Series 7) Liz May Brice as Patricia "Pat" Kerrigan (Series 7–8) Laura Rogers as Sheena Williams (Series 7) Andrew Scarborough as Kevin Spiers (Series 7) Ellie Haddington as Joy Masterton (Series 7–8) Amanda Donohoe as Louise "Lou" Stoke (Series 8) Sid Owen as Donny Kimber (Series 8) Colin Salmon as Rowan Dunlop (Series 8) Angela Bruce as Mandy Goodhue (Series 8)
Guest Roland Oliver as Simon Stubberfield (Series 1–3) Oliver Fox as Sean Parr (Series 1) Ashlee Miller as Carol Byatt (Series 1) Eugene Walker as Ken Blakeson (Series 1–5) Timmy Lang as Spencer Lindsay (Series 1) Victoria Pritchard as Trisha (Series 1 & 3) Gideon Turner as Robin Dunston (Series 1–2) David Case as Chaplin (Series 1–3) Denise Black as Jessie Devlin (Series 1–2) Kim Taylforth as Marilyn Fenner (Series 2–3) Danielle King as Lauren Atkins (Series 2–3) Jade Williams as Rhiannon Dawson (Series 2 & 4) Helen Schlesinger as Tessa Spall (Series 2–3) Sian Webber as Megan "Meg" Richards (Series 2) Ivan Kaye as Charlie Atkins (Series 2–3) Julie Legrand as Rita Dockley (Series 2) Alison Newman as Renee Williams (Series 2) Danielle Lydon as Claire Walker (Series 1–2) Geoffrey Hutchings as Bobby Hollamby (Series 2–3 & 5) Steven Webb as David Saunders (Series 3 & 8) Martin Crewes as Guy Cullen (Series 3) Wendi Peters as Pamela "Pam" Jolly (Series 3) Michael Higgs as Thomas Waugh (Series 3) Kate Steavenson-Payne as Charlotte Myddleton (Series 3) Helen Grace as Caroline Lewis (Series 3) Andrew Lancel as Barry Pearce (Series 4) Adam Leese as Damien Morrison (Series 4) Michael Elwyn as Henry Mills (Series 4–5) Maria Charles as Noreen Biggs (Series 4–5) Sarah Hadland as "Spike" (Series 4) Alex King as Ritchie Atkins (Series 4–5) Paul Brennan as Eric Bostock (Series 5) Nikki Amuka-Bird as Paula Miles (Series 5–6) Jamie Thomas King as Tony (Series 5) Holly Palmer as Milly Yates (Series 5–6) Geff Francis as Rick Revoir (Series 6)