The Modern L

DVD series review: Bad girls




Bad Girls was an award winning British television drama series that was broadcast on ITV 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.

As of November 2010 series 1 - 8 are currently being re released on DVD and Blu Ray.



Welcome to HMP Larkhall. Home of Brittain's most notorious female inmates. Or so they say.



As you get to know the characters you start realising that these are real women, who have real problems, that are amazingly funny, kind and compassionate, but just made the wrong choices.



The most noteworthy characters are Yvonne Atkins, Sylvia "bodybag" Hollamby, The two Julies, Shell Dockley, Denny Blood and of course, Nikki Wade and Hellen Stewart. In my opinion I think this show's success can be solely contributed to the whirlwind romance between Governor Stewart and inmate Wade. I think that the entire lesbian population would agree. In saying this though, my all-time favorite character has got to be Yvonne Atkins played by Linda Henry. She's a tough old alley cat that doesnt take any crap and can still get into the odd scrap if she has to and being top dog as they call it, she's responsible for most of the fun and laughter in this very serious and dramatic series.



Series 1 (1999)

From the beginning, Bad Girls dealt with controversial subject matter. Early episodes of the first series 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 due to being bullied. The central story arc of the first three series revolved around the developing romantic relationship between Nikki Wade, a prisoner serving a life sentence for the murder of a policeman who attempted to rape her girlfriend, and Helen Stewart, the Wing Governor who spent much of series one engaged to her boyfriend. Furthermore, the script, unwilling to compromise the realism of the programme, contained much strong language (for example, the reference to Nikki Wade as a "rug-muncher" and Denny Blood's gloating over the likelihood of Rachel Hicks having "singed her minge").

Other storylines to feature prominently in series one included the pregnancy of a young drug addict Zandra Plackett, the appeal of wrongly-imprisoned Monica Lindsay (frequently referred to as "posh bitch" by other characters), 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 (2000)

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 tumour. 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 reaches under her bed for a broken bottle.



Series 3 (2001)

Series 3 picks up where Series 2 left off. Jim and Shell are in bed together and Nikki, dressed in a nurse's uniform, is at Helen's house after escaping. Shell stabs Jim with a broken bottle that she had brought back from Sylvia's party, but she is dragged out of her cell before she can finish him off.

The third series saw a high turnover of short-term characters and storylines, but also chronicled the spectacular escape of Shell and Denny Blood to the Costa Del Sol in Spain getting revenge on Sylvia and her husband along the way; 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 when Nikki's appeal is successful and she is released from prison.





The cast is brilliantly put together, with each actor portraying their character to the most believable point one can reach. you realise this when you see these talented actors in other shows and it turns your stomach because its not Bodybag or Yvonne. The storyline is also very compelling with most of the plot based on actual events and lets not forget the girl on girl eye candy that Nikki and Hellen so generously provides.



As a British tv drama I have to say I was pleasantly surprised and immediately addicted, it scores an adequate 9/10