Bad Girls

[paruses]

This has appeared on UKTV Drama. It must be 20 years old and I've only got very vague memories about it.

Anyone have anything positive to say about it? The trailer makes it look even more soapy and steamy than I ever recall. I never thought it was Oz or something with Stephen Graham in but thought it had a bit of social commentary like early London's Burning or The Bill.

[Gulftastic]

First two or three series, anchored by the Helen/Nikki love story, were OK, after that, utter shit. I bailed long before the end but it had turned utterly barmy even by that stage.

[Flouncer]

Yeah, the first couple of series had some pretension towards being a gritty drama that tackles serious issues which women face in our prisons, but after that it becomes increasingly cartoony (but still entertaining, in my opinion - I do still like it after it gets pretty daft). Eventually, I think by series 5 or so, it well and truly goes to shit with well-established characters losing their identities and ridiculously tall storylines starting to dominate. I do have a genuine affection for Bad Girls, and when I watched Orange is the New Black years later I felt like Bad Girls must have been some sort of influence on it.

[paruses]

Ta. I am going to dig into it tonight. Turns out it's only S1 up and the trailers they have run already make it look fairly batshit.

I think it's also another one of those "ohh. She was in..." programmes (cf. Between the Lines). Already remembered that the dodgy man screw was in thrilling customs drama The Knock.

[edit - not joking. I loved The Knock]

[Sebastian Cobb]

Yeah, the first couple of series had some pretension towards being a gritty drama that tackles serious issues which women face in our prisons, but after that it becomes increasingly cartoony (but still entertaining, in my opinion - I do still like it after it gets pretty daft). Eventually, I think by series 5 or so, it well and truly goes to shit with well-established characters losing their identities and ridiculously tall storylines starting to dominate. I do have a genuine affection for Bad Girls, and when I watched Orange is the New Black years later I felt like Bad Girls must have been some sort of influence on it.

I reckon they all owe a lot to Prisioner Cell Block H, which despite being cheap and soapy really was quite dark.

Jim Fenner always struck me as Michael Barrymore's evil prison guard twin.

[DrGreggles]

I reckon they all owe a lot to Prisioner Cell Block H, which despite being cheap and soapy really was quite dark FUCKING FANTASTIC

[Flouncer]

I reckon they all owe a lot to Prisioner Cell Block H, which despite being cheap and soapy really was quite dark.

I've always meant to give that a watch. I also recently got hold of the first series of the LWT drama Within These Walls (1974-1978) which I have yet to get round to watching, though I gather that one focuses more on the prison officers than the prisoners.

Various American networks have held the rights to remake Bad Girls, but none of them managed to get as far as bringing it into production before OITNB came along. I remember thinking whilst watching OITNB that several storylines and elements bore some resemblance to Bad Girls, though I suppose the setting is necessarily quite a limited one for the writers which might lead to the same ideas coming up in different productions.

[Noodle Lizard]

I was an extra in an episode of it when I was 8 or 9. That's about all I remember, though.