QU: In response to the accusations about lack of continuity and unfinished threads in Series 3 you stated that you *never* forget a story line or a character etc etc... It seems to me that although occasional scenes have been written and filmed, that may develop the plot, or explain things or whatever ..that doesn't always mean that we [the viewer] get to see them . A case in point is the scene that was cut near the start of the prison riot in S3 between Nikki and Helen ..the New Zealanders got to see it but here in the UK we had to wait for the DVD's to be released to see it . That scene did help explain things better and I feel that there have been other cut scenes in the past too, as what 'we' saw didn't always quite follow on ?

True - scenes do get cut in the editing process, because otherwise the episode would be too long to transmit. Ideally, we aim to 'overwrite' about 2 minutes of material, but it's proved to be very difficult to get accurate timings at the script stage and we, too, often mourn lost scenes or parts of scenes that have had to go for timing reasons. It's something we hope to improve in the 5th series of BG, because we do feel that some stories come across as too rushed/sound-bite drama. Sometimes, though, scenes don't work out as well as we hoped they would - and it's obviously a matter of mixed opinion whether this particular H & N scene was better left out or in. (We don't actually know how it came to be transmitted in NZ when it was cut in the UK.)

QU: Anyway back to BG4..Buki's self abuse has been brought back from the depths of Series 3 [after no mentions for aeons]..as has thoughts about Zandra's in the shape of Crystal's new baby..and Spike kind of going through the same things as Zandra did .. Yvonne's involvement in her Charlie's death was brushed aside in a line ..but suddenly this week and last week[Eps 8 & 9] there have been lots of mentions of 'Helen Stewart' with respect to the assault....so again another thread is been picked up ...but will it be resolved?

So to my real Questions :~~

Two big things still have yet to be tackled and we are already over half way through BG4

a) No mention of Dr Waugh [unless I missed it ...I don't watch as attentively as I used to ]..surely his storyline should be finished off??
&
b) No mention of Nikki ...one of the *main* characters of BG1, 2&3.... yet not a peep...I thought that Babs might have had a 'letter' from her and read it out to the others ...but nothing !! There are her OU results revealed, the fact that she is with Helen [one assumes]..btw she couldn't go to the States [SF] as she is a convicted criminal isn't she ..they'd not let her in would they ..so that story line is out ? Was that why we read that there was going to be a bit of a follow up with H&N running a bar/club in Glasgow?? Why did that not come about as it would have a good been closure on their [epic] story ..lol??[

We did script in references to characters such as Babs and Shaz getting postcards from Nikki (also confirming her success in her OU exams), but these were cut in the edit as a result of timing considerations, much to our great regret. Thomas left after the end of his involvement with Helen, and again there was originally reference to this in the scripts, but it had to be deleted - although the implication is clear from Roisin's callous treatment by the prison doctor that someone less sympathetic than Thomas is now in the post. However, these are not stories. They are references to past characters or situations and are most vulnerable to cutting because they don't contribute to the drama of stories we are now telling.

On Buki's self-abuse - Cutting up is a secret activity which is both a source of comfort to the self-abuser and a source of shame after the event. It's always there - 'in the depths of series 3' and in all series, but, because Buki doesn't say: 'I cut up' in every episode or because we don't see the results of it, it doesn't mean it's forgotten about. Many, many women in prison cut up.

Nikki was going to go to San Francisco on a false passport. When she's freed, she still can't get into America legally with her conviction for manslaughter, which is why you can assume she and Helen are still living in the UK.


QU: Do you think the fact that you axed your two best characters (Helen and Nikki) has contributed to the fact that the ratings for series 4 have dipped by 2-3 million viewers as compared to series 3? Is the drop in ratings also the reason for you deciding to do this Q&A now?

There are quite a few questions here. First of all: Helen and Nikki. We did not axe either character. Sadly for us, the actors wanted to leave. The fact that they kept alive a love story for thirty-nine hours of television is a great testimony to their talent. On the ratings drop: you may not be aware that the industry for the first time ever changed its entire audience measuring panel overnight on January 1st 2002. Every programme on the main terrestrial channels has suffered a large drop in ratings, including Coronation Street, Blind Date, Where the Heart Is, Emmerdale etc. etc. by several million. We and ITV are very happy that the Bad Girls audience has held up better than the rest. It is one of the very few dramas to get over 7 million. (IE 7 is the new 9.) Honestly, we are more proud than ever of Bad Girls and everyone who works so hard - cast and crew - to create it. The timing of the Q&A is entirely to do with the fact that we had finished writing series 4 and it was a good time to hear your views and to explain our thinking.


QU: Without a shadow of a doubt your best ever storyline was Nikki/Helen. You built up the tension in S1 & S2 to fever pitch but in S3 you seemed to have this disappear into the background. Obviously I realized there were limitations of where you could go with it but the storyline just did not flow. It just seemed like such a waste when you had sixteen episodes to get it right. Just where was that brick wall that Thomas kept running into?!! Are there deleted scenes that explain all? (It was great that Helen & Nikki got together but I couldn't have cared less if they didn't and I would not have been saying that at the end of S1 or S2.)

We felt that the H & N dynamic had to shift to a different level once Helen had forced Nikki to return to prison. Helen rejects Nikki's notion that they can see each other 'on the sly' - just as she rejected escaping to San Francisco - because she doesn't want to compromise her professional integrity any further, nor to turn their relationship into something sleazy and underhand. Helen sees their only hope of a future together resting on Nikki's release. When events drive them further apart, Thomas Waugh comes into Helen's life when she is most vulnerable to the temptation of an easy life. He is, indeed, her 'ideal man' - yet, deny it though she tries, she can't get over Nikki and all that Nikki has awoken within her. No scenes were deleted of any significance to this story, which we would argue did flow from the characters and the new situation they were then in - although it obviously ceased to dominate the series in the way it had the previous two. We're sorry that you ceased to care what happened to them. Behind the scenes, we had to fight hard to keep both characters in the show from episode one onwards, when ITV had alternative ideas. We miss them as much as any loyal fan, but it was very important to us - as indeed it was to both Simone and Mandana - that whenever the time came to conclude their story, it should have a wholly happy and triumphant ending. We've always said that any character who hasn't died can return - and we sincerely hope that we have not seen the last of H & N - but Bad Girls would no longer exist if we had made the show dependent on the original cast and not developed new characters and stories.


QU: How come that most of your characters who are prison officers are either mad, deranged or plain slimy bastards? (That nutty nurse from FW also springs to mind.) I'm beginning to think you have something against the public sector!*lol* I guess if they were all normal it would be dull viewing but I can't help thinking that it should be the PO's locked up instead.

Prison is a strange world to enter by court order, let alone voluntarily, but what about Dominic, Josh, Mark, Lorna Rose (foolish, yes, but mad, deranged, slimy???), Karen - not to mention Helen Stewart? Di, Sylvia and Jim are the only prison officers who are or have been especially dysfunctional or sinister. Di wants to be the prisoner's friend, even though she's not always been the best friend a prisoner could have, but over the course of time she has faced up to the worst of her problems. Corrupt and self-seeking prison officers like Jim and Sylvia do have their counterparts in real prisons, we assure you, and part of our aim in Bad Girls has always been to provoke questions about whether imprisonment is appropriately administered.


QU: Are there going to be more series of Bad Girls, or will that depend on the ratings that series 4 is getting?

Re-commissioning always depends on the ratings for the previous series: that's why we have been commissioned for series 5.


QU: How do you make the decision about what new characters will come into the show?

We go to a bar in Soho and think laterally. We find Edward de Bono's concept "po" a useful tool for launching into uncharted territory.


QU: How do you keep coming up with so many different storylines?

We subscribe to a wide range of prison-related publications, consult with our advisors, visit prisons and read the newspapers. Then we go to a bar in Soho and "po". Also, we deliberately create 'big' characters. Often they generate stories naturally.


QU: Who are your favourite characters and why?

We love them all. If we didn't we couldn't write for them.


QU: We've all heard rumours about Bombshell . . . any chance of you giving us some exclusive info?

Bombshell is a project in development. Our interest in the subject is deep-rooted. I (Chad) grew up in Aldershot, home of the parachute regiment, we've both been members of CND and are fascinated and appalled by the strange rituals of the closed military world, which has now been forced to fling open its doors to equal opportunities. Do we need an army, what's it for, how should it be run, who wants to join it and why? It will be another ensemble drama, probably more action-packed than FW or BG, but will still have (we hope) some of the same elements - social satire, big characters, humour, fast storytelling and, of course, sexual intrigue.


QU: Have there been any scenes or episodes that, after they have aired, you wish had been different?

Yes. Television is not a pure art form. Scenes do not always translate from page to screen as we might have wished, for all manner of reasons beyond our control. For instance, we would dearly love to see coffee in Jim's mug, but it seems destined to remain empty. (Is there a coffee fairy who drinks it first?) For instance, in Ep7 Series 3, Shaz should have been screaming in agony in the road when she fell out of the getaway van. For instance, the script of Ep15 Series 3 specified that Nikki's nurse's coat was hidden in a plastic bag in the bottom of Helen's cupboard, not filed under "D" for disguise in the filing cabinet. If you've winced at the like, be sure we've winced before you.


QU: Are there any TV shows (past or present) that you wish you had created?

Chad - The Avengers (with Honor Blackman or Diana Rigg), Cagney & Lacey (although Christine would have been a lesbian), Ab Fab, Frasier.

Ann - The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Dad's Army, Hi de Hi, The Golden Girls, A Very Peculiar Practice.


QU: How do you recruit for the extras on the show? Would there ever be an opportunity for someone like myself, joe public, ever being able to come on as an extra?

Through an extras' agency, with the occasional addition of friends and family, and competition winners.


QU: Why do you think that Bad Girls has been so successful?

There is probably a universal resonance about rule-governed, closed institutions - we've all been in them at some stage of our lives - and there's somebody for most people to identify with in our range of prisoners. There is an appeal in strong, autonomous, female characters who are not conventionally defined by their relationships with men. It's a show that presents moral dilemmas where you take sides. Sixty per cent of the audience is female and there is a very young skew. Older, middle-class men tend to be under-represented. There's a concern in the industry that this latter group is over-represented in the new audience-ratings panel!


QU: Would there ever be a consideration to take Bad Girls into theatre?

One of our projects in development is Bad Girls - The Musical. We'll keep you posted.


QU: Of all the characters that have left the show, (either dead or alive), is there one that you would really like to bring back? If so, why?

The hardest thing about Bad Girls is that characters can't make a success of their lives and stay in prison. Happy endings tend to mean a ticket out. It's hard to pick only one character we'd like to bring back.


QU: Have you got any favourite episodes? Which ones and why?

We like different episodes for all kinds of reasons - for example, the episode of Zandra's death in combination with Babes Behind Bars, which made us laugh and cry within minutes of each other; the last episode of the Helen-Nikki love story for its warmth and passion. And, for its black humour, the Shell and Denny escape episode - kidnapping Sylvia and Bobby and torturing Bobby in his coffin. Ahem. Eileen thought we'd gone mad when she heard us storylining it. But what we intended to do was turn the tables on Sylvia, so she was subjected to the same treatment prison officers of her ilk routinely meet out to prisoners - confinement, strip searches, verbal and physical abuse, threats and scares, etc - with the paradoxical effect of making her an object of sympathy. In other words, we wanted to prove that nobody deserves to be treated like this and that harsh prison regimes only provoke more disturbed behaviour.


QU: Where do you keep your NTAs? Note from COOL~ NTA's = National Television Awards

Inside Crystal's guitar.


QU: What are your favourite programs on TV at the moment?

Ann - I loved Pop Idol. I also like Frasier, Chewing the Fat (a comedy from BBC Scotland (almost as good as The High Life), At Home with the Braithwaites. The Bill seems to be improving of late, which is good news for Bad Girls because it's on before us and we inherit its audience. Its audience used to be almost exclusively old men - which never did us any favours. Although it's still quite old and male, Paul Marquess (a friend and the series producer) is trying to change things there.

Chad - whatever's on when I'm having an evening in.


QU: What gave you the idea to make a program about life inside a woman's prison?

Ann - Eileen was a mad fan of Prisoner, Cell Block H and, in her previous job at Scottish TV, saw how passionate people were about it, even though it was old and cheap. A women's prison drama was one of several projects we were thinking of doing when we read Chad's screenplay Nine-Bob Notes. The two strands came together and Bad Girls emerged.

Chad - I was inspired by meeting the late Chris Tchaikovsky, founder of the campaigning charity Women In Prison (WIP), when I was researching a screenplay (Watch With Mother) commissioned for BBC1. I wrote another screenplay (Nine-Bob Notes) based on my interviews with Chris, about her own experiences as a young criminal in the 1960s/70s (which Shed has plans to produce in the future). The inciting incident in BG series 1, episode 1, about a woman miscarrying in her cell, was based on an incident that Chris witnessed in Holloway. It was one of two harrowing events (the other a cell-fire, where prison officers left a woman to burn to death) which prompted her own decision to become politically engaged on behalf of imprisoned women. Chris was the light and life of our vision for Bad Girls - it was she who gave us the crucial insight to make our drama work on both sides of the bars. Where other tv companies wanting to do a women's prison drama had failed, because they couldn't find a way to 'identify' with the prisoners, Chris showed us how women in prison were 'us'. She took a big risk in becoming our advisor. Many prison campaigners initially disapproved of her alliance with BG, fearing that the serious issues about women's imprisonment would inevitably be trivialised by the demands of primetime tv. We certainly can't boast of achieving any revolution in prison policy to date - all we can do as dramatists is to engage people's interest and empathy. We hope that whenever any viewer of BG feels that unexpected surge of sympathy towards a hitherto unappealing prisoner (eg Zandra, Crystal, Buki, Maxi, Tina . . .), they might conclude that nobody's born evil - and help us persuade politicians to provide more hope and opportunity, rather than more punishment, to the already disadvantaged.


QU: How do you eat your Cadbury's Creme Egg?

Chad: I give mine to Ann.
Ann: Like a baby Tyrannosaurus Rex.


QU: Did you consciously set out to attract a gay audience with the Helen/Nicky sub plot, and do you worry that following their (very satisfying) happy ending, that audience figures will drop? Also, any hope of Nikki and Helen returning to Bad Girls/having their own mini series?

We set out to tell the story that we wanted to watch ourselves. Simone & Mandana were the most fantastic incarnations of our characters and we were always determined their story should have a happy ending. Analysis of the ratings for series 4 has proved that the audience for Bad Girls has survived their departure, but we've imagined scenarios whereby they could return because we love them and miss them as much as any fan. However, it's not in our power alone to bring them back into Bad Girls.


QU: I have been an avid fan of Bad Girls since the beginning, can you please ensure me that you will continue to make your brilliant series for a long time to come.

It's gives us such pleasure to know that the show is appreciated. We will want to make Bad Girls for as long as we're all excited and passionate about it - which we hope will be for a very long time.


QU: What were the sources you drew on for the Grayling character? It seems to me that the sort of "efficiency human resource" ideas that have been floating around that have made people's lives a misery have been brilliantly reflected in this character.

We happen to know a few people who work in management consultancy, so we've been kept up to date with some of their theories and terminology. The prison service does have Graylings as well as old school Stubberfields and we wanted a character who could shake things up a bit - especially Jim.


QU: What were your feelings on any problems of Helen and Nikki going out of the storyline which at some point they had to. How do you feel that the Roison and Cassie story contrasts or compares?

The only point of comparison between H+N and R+C is that they are both involved in problematic lesbian relationships, but R+C were certainly not intended as a direct replacement. Whereas Helen and Nikki could be seen as soulmates, Roisin and Cassie are divided on every front - age, experience, life-style, children. What fascinated us was the idea of two people who were really only at the beginning of an affair, suddenly finding themselves "living together" in prison and forced to make decisions they could otherwise have skirted for months - years - on the outside. We also wanted to do a story about a prisoner who was made drug dependent by the misery of imprisonment, as many women, especially mothers, are.

On Helen and Nikki's exit: although none of us wanted them to leave, it did give us the opportunity for a triumphant, happy ending for both characters outside of the prison. We must pay a tribute to the actors who made it so believable and so touching. We doubt whether ever again we'll see a love affair, so brilliantly played, which is so intense or so difficult and passionate.


QU: Do you feel that the media have given sufficient justice in highlighting BadGirls- it seems that it's the case that "Eastenders- Everyone's Talking About it but" "BG people are REALLY talking about it" and it has made more of a dent than it is being given credit for.

We are genuinely bemused. We couldn't believe the press attention for Footballers' Wives. We don't think the press - or the reviewers - knew how to take Bad Girls. They didn't get the irony of the title. Some thought we were out to titillate men (yeah, right). Few journalists had any idea what prison is like, thinking, eg, a fashion show was made-up fantasy when, in fact, Chad and I had been invited to a fabulous one in HMP Bullwood Hall. Many women's prisons run fashion shows. Believe it or not, Holloway prison has an Easter Bonnet parade. So yes, we think you're right, it is largely ignored in the press, but we think things are changing. Look at how reviewers now describe Bad Girls. U-turns or wot? Anecdotal evidence - teacher friends, social workers, aid workers etc. - suggests that BG is talked about and has a real influence, especially on the young and young at heart. We also know that various agencies working with youth groups use BG as a communications tool. We have recently had visits to the set from a range of prison reform groups and criminal justice professionals, who acknowledge the significant contribution BG has made in raising awareness of prison issues. At our most cynical, we might suppose that the press has a lack of interest in working class women.


QU: Will there be a Series 5?

Yes.


QU: With the Footballers Wives and possible army series on top of BG is there any danger of being "distanced" from your work by having to devolve too much whereas BG as conceived was "your handiwork in some detail"?

To correct some misunderstandings - from BG series one right through to series four, we have written all the storylines, edited all the scripts and substantially re-written many of them, in addition to those episodes which credit us as writers. The writer credits on BG are similar to writer credits on Coronation Street - ie master scene storylines are provided to the writers, who are commissioned to flesh these out with dialogue - and we are obliged by the standard contracts to credit some writers whose work has had to be almost entirely rewritten by us. Other writers, of course, make fab contributions and make it a pleasure to read their scripts. Bad Girls is our first-born and closest to our hearts. Unlike other dramas, many writers find it difficult to get the tone right for Bad Girls. We've come to terms with the fact that as long as BG is running, we'll have to be substantially involved in the story-telling and the script quality.


QU: The lesbian storyline in Bad Girls Series 1-3 was largely responsible for the programme achieving its 'cult status' amongst gay women in particular. Did you realise that viewing figures would dip so drastically because of this storyline ending, and was the introduction of a gay male governor an attempt to generate new viewers from the gay male culture-ie to maintain the cult status by focusing on men as well as women?

See question 1, re the so-called "drop" in viewing figures. We recognise that some viewers have had a particular or sole interest in certain stories, and they may well stop being loyal to Bad Girls when that story comes to an end. However, we know that most of our lesbian audience has stayed with the show, which is what we very much want. No, we did not introduce the gay male governor in order to generate interest from gay men. Cult status is bestowed not contrived. We made Grayling gay in order to explore issues of sexual harassment at work, and to submit the prince of sexual harassment himself, Jim Fenner, to a taste of his own medicine that would leave him insecure and floundering.


QU: Shell Dockley has become one of the best villains on TV. How did you go about creating her when the series started? Did you think it was important that she was camp, popular, tarty, etc...

As we've said before, when we first met the actors cast in the original BG roles, we thought the casting was uncannily close to our vision. We had even conceived of Shell as singing country & western songs, as a mark of her ability to shift from cold cunning to mawkish sentimentality, and she was most definitely intended to play the vamp. We wanted a character who had survived a hideously abused childhood by putting on a tough, tarty front, which she then made more and more of a reality, because it was her only way of empowering herself. Shell is therefore 'camp' in the true historical sense of the word, as defining the exaggerated 'effeminate' behaviour employed as a mask of resistance by the socially/sexually oppressed. Debra Stephenson brought her own fabulous comedic skills to flesh out the role and further inspire our writing - and it is thanks to her that Shell achieved her popularity.


QU: When you finalised the plan for Bad Girls way back in series one, what major changes had been made from the original idea in terms of plots, characters etc. Did you have any idea how successful your brilliant show would be and how long did you intend to run it for?

Again, we were delighted how faithfully our original concept was mirrored on screen. We have always believed in BG ourselves and, because we were so excited about it, we were totally thrown by its harsh reception in the press. Obviously, in our business you have to develop a thick skin about reviews and we just had to keep on hoping we'd win the viewers' vote. We had plans to run it for as long as we were allowed, because we had so many stories we wanted to tell. Had ITV only commissioned 6 episodes of the first series, there wouldn't have been enough time for BG to gather up the audience support it succeeded in achieving over 10 episodes. It's only because it has continued to sustain its popularity - and indeed to extend it from series 2 onwards - that we can consider the idea of success.


QU: I am of Asian origin, and wonder if you have ever thought about introducing Asian characters in Larkhall? There have in the past, in real life, been cases of women from this cultural background being imprisoned on charges of killing abusive husbands or for such related charges.

As you will know, there are relatively few Asian women in prison and we do try to reflect the prison population's racial balance in BG. But we are thinking of introducing an Asian prisoner in series 5.


QU: We've finally got the original in Canada, but how are plans coming along for an American version of the show?

We have been talking very seriously with a great American producer, Christine Vachon, and are presently in negotiation with a US cable network. Our website will be first with the news if we have something to announce.


QU: You once described the character of Nikki Wade as the political heart and soul of the show. Are there any plans to replace her in that role going forward? I was expecting the character of Thomas Waugh to reappear and act as a mitigating factor (or at the very least a foil!) for the amoral shenanigans that are being described by reviewers of series four - not unkindly - as "camp."

Nikki was the political heart of BG in series 1-3, however we are conscious not to keep replacing like with like. The campaigning of Nikki Wade is now taken over by characters like Crystal, Yvonne, Barbara and others. Thomas was brought in as a test for Helen - however, with every new series we re-assess the comic/serious/good/bad balance. We can understand the point you're making of missing the role that Doctor Waugh played. It's at the point when things build to a crisis that we either introduce a new character to sort things out, or an existing character shapes up to the fight in a new way - as Karen now is. In real life there can be temporary imbalances, so too in a 55-hour drama.





(c) 2002 Shed Productions