I haven't seen all of the series, but from what i've seen, it's a rarely impressive TV drama. All of the characters are carefully created, and the actors are doing a great job; while you're watching, it feels like you're really a part of their crew. You share their awkward moments, fights, their joys and losses; pain and hope are mixed in one here. And yet, tension and stress is not all that this show has to offer, there's a lot of fun moments too. And after all, a lot of love going on. These women have countless flaws, but they are still valuable human beings, and their hearts and souls are not made from stone. I'd definitely watch it again.
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Dark_liquid26 December 2009
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Spaceygirl11 June 2007One of British TV's finest shows ever televised in South Africa, "Bad Girls" had me hooked from the word go! It was well written and brilliantly executed with some of the most memorable characters ever seen on a television screen. Who can ever forget Jim Fenner? Bodybag? 'Shell Dockley? Shazza? Zandra? The Two Julies? At times the line between inmate and screw was blurred and it was hard to tell who were worse. The story-lines were at times a bit implausible and heavy-handed and the accents were at times difficult to follow, the character Al being a case in point. I almost never knew what she on about! Minor quibbles aside, I shall miss "Bad Girls" as nothing on TV will ever compare to it.
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It's hard to believe that Bad Girls is now over 20 years old as it has aged surprisingly well.
Set in a tough intercity women's prison, it's the penal version of Upstairs Downstairs but instead of the toffs and the servants, it's the Guards and the inmates, each have there own storylines yet each intertwine and crossover too.
The characters can sometimes come across as a bit cliche at times, Shell Dockley the psychopathic lifer and top dog on G Wing, Rachel Hicks the scared kid banged up amongst hardened crims, when perhaps a softer punishment could have sufficed. Zandra Plackett the Posh girl who's ruined her life with drugs, Danny Blood the bully from the streets, the two Julies, the tarts with hearts and Nikki Wade, the misunderstood But generally kindhearted lesbian, jailed for life for defending her partner from a crooked cop trying to rape her.
The prison officers are no less cliche, Jim Fenner, the abusive and corrupt sex predator who sees all the women in his charge as his own personal target, Sylvia Hollomby, the unwavering matron type who's lack of empathy and kindness toward the prisoners makes her very unpopular, Dominic Mcallister, the handsome young prison officer who genuinely cares about his charges and really wants to make a difference in their lives, Lorna Rose, a no less committed Officer but one who's appalling lack of judgement proves to be her downfall.
The only truly fleshed out prison officer is the character of Helen Stewart, the university trained Wing Governor who's ideological sometimes softer approach to running a prison which she had learned on paper, seems very naive and impractical when faced with The real thing.
Extra depth is added of course when the hitherto heterosexual Miss Stewart finds herself becoming attracted and eventually falling in love with Nikki Wade forcing her to reexamine, not only her sexuality but her entire moral code.
In fact it is this journey that forms the backbone of the first three series.
It was such an engaging storyline that when the characters of Helen and Nikki left the series at the end of season 3 the show seemed to lose its very heart and a huge portion of its audience. Including myself!
You do learn to genuinely care about the characters over time as their Tragic backstories become clear and you care also for some of the more sympathetic guards trying to do a difficult job under difficult curcumstances.
I would definitely recommend seasons 1-3 but leave it to yourselves whether you wish to continue through seasons 4-8. -
Random_Steve4 September 2004Bad Girls is Shed Productions first, and most popular drama series on ITV.
Bad Girls is based in larkhall womans prison. After having watched every single episode to date, Bad Girls have successfully displayed what being in a womans prison of this nature is really like. It is shocking, depressing, and more often than not disturbing.
Even after watching 3 - 4 episodes, you get a feel for the characters, and what happens to them, happens to you too. At times you feel happy, and at others you feel sad. There is comedy thrown in every now and again, but there is always a more serious underlying concept that can never be forgotten.
At the end of each episode, you are left wanting more. Bad Girls NEVER fails to surprise you with what's in store round the next corner. Just when you think it can't get any better, it does.
This drama is a masterpiece that will hopefully go on for years to come. -
kaching7014 May 2007i know this an old show, but i just started watching it last week and so far i finished the first 4 seasons and i cant get enough , things in that show can really happen and i think thats the beauty of the show, that its so real and realistic.it makes u sympathize with all the characters including the mean ones lol. the acting was really awesome ...overall the show is awesome and i assure you that you would love it if u try to watch it ...i personally if i could give it more than 10 i would ...and as English is not my first language, this show made me fell in love with the English accent , i used to have hard time to understand the English accent in general , but i guess because i was so into this show, it made me pay so much attention to be able to pick everything the say . Don't miss it, if you didn't watch it yet , go ahead and do :)
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It's unbelievable to me that I only heard of this series several months ago when it's been running, and quite popularly and notably, in Britain going on 8 years now.
I've only seen the first 3 seasons. Only the series one DVD set is available in the U.S. This is absurd for such a significant show in British TV history and one which should be seen and appreciated by all, but especially by a discerning gay viewership. I wanted to see what happened next so badly that I had to send to the UK for series two and three and get a DVD player on which I could watch region 2 dvds. But it was worth it. As Helen Stewart says to Nikki Wade, "I wouldn't have missed it for the world." The significance of the Helen/Nikki love story is of immense import as I am quite sure that the vast majority of the viewing audience (huge, at its height, for British prime time) was actively rooting for the lesbian couple to get together and, somehow, stay that way. Despite the impossible circumstances in which they fell in love from opposite sides of the prison bars.
It was a remarkably romantic love story and a pleasure to watch these superb actresses work together. (And what a great alternative to something like "The L Word.") One comes to care about all the characters here...even the truly wicked 'bad' ones, though they are all quite recognizably human, and all have their vulnerable, or likable moments. And the actors, including the villain of the piece, Jack Ellis, are all uniformly superb.
This series turned me into a Simone Lahbib and Mandana Jones fan for life. Ms. Lahbib, especially, is a rare actress of supreme nuance. I never failed to be moved by her intelligent choices in her portrayal of Helen Stewart, the 'warden' who finds herself unaccountably (at first) falling in love with one of the inmates in her charge and does something so proactive about it that one watches in wonderment and can only wish they knew someone like her. She is a stalwart, stubborn, honorable, feisty, little scot, and it's easy to fall in love with the character (and her incredibly sexy accent--who knew?! Craig Ferguson and Billy Connolly just make me laugh) right along with Mandana's heartfelt turn as the hot-tempered lifer (and out lesbian) Nikki, a woman who's inside for killing the corrupt cop who was trying to rape her girlfriend. A passionate (and, at times, jealous) woman with deeply felt (and expressed) emotions. When she decides she can't live with the current situation with Helen anymore she does something, at once, so reckless and yet so Romantic that leads to one of the most wrenching cliffhangers I have ever seen on TV. There's literally no way out...I was so hesitant to move onto series 3...I didn't see how it could be 'satisfactorily' resolved. Actually, there are 4 cliffies at the end of series 2, bambambambam, one right after the other. Audacious stuff.
I found series 3, tho very compelling, not as thoroughly excellent (after the melodrama hit the fan it just kept coming) as the first 2 seasons, and thought, what a shame, they pulled back a bit on the love story in order to begin new threads and sub-plots and introduce new characters and give the rest of the ensemble their due, I suppose, but it was the Nikki/Helen story which was the heart of the show and put them on the map as must-see TV in Britain, but, still, it's a fascinating drama and I defy anyone not to become involved in caring about the fates of these people, and they do become very real.
In a way it's sort of like an "Upstairs, Downstairs" set in a women's prison, and that's about the highest compliment I can pay to a serialized British TV drama. -
andrewbellerby28 April 2020I watched this when I was a teenager, reliving my youth. Everything about this series is so skanky and realistic it's awesome to watch!
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patcase8 June 2006I am totally bereft. I have just finished watching season 6 of Bad Girls. In Canada, we only actually have access to season 1 so I bought the following five seasons on ebay. Beware though, the UK versions on ebay are Region 2 as opposed to Region 1 encoding for North America. No problem, I discovered that my trusty Mac computer (you can do it on a Windows machine too albeit with less flexibility) let me play the Region 2 disks. So I watched five seasons on my computer. I'm a Bad Girls junky. I could watch this series for 30 years just as I have done with Coronation Street (no comparison other than time spent watching).
Anyhow, what can one say about this show? The casting is absolutely superb. The storyline is just riveting; some of the female characters are so alluring (and not just in an avuncular sense). I'm in love with the tall Julie and Sheena (Charlotte Lucas) and Karen .... -
dementednun8 April 2020Based on prisoner Cell Block H which showed its last episode in 1989 it took till 1999 for it to be produced why is that well prisoner which was also shown on ITV with very high ratings was never over officially cancelled...... And rather than have two prison dramas they waited ... but prison h was coming back and it was in production and while it was in production they reran it from the start, but it never took off again and It was officially cancled by 1994 and bad birds as it was know was put on the shelf, If prisoner was cancled it must be a tired format and not with pursuing.......
One of Coronation Streets loving characters Deirdre Rashid/Barlow was given a storyline where she falls in love with a scam artist she ends up getting arrested and spending a couple of weeks in prison....... everybody was talking about them scenes with Margi Clarke.... front page of the newspapers Deirdre Barlow behind prison bars....
ITV were onto something and brought back the idea of bad birds changed to bad girls.
Season 5 of bad girls saw a lot of the characters leave but mainly due to exhaustion because they never got a break.
The only bad thing about bad girls was it never had its own version of Joan Ferguson, the First season has a 200 pounds of muscles 6-ft black female who could of been the new freak but sadly she is only in one episode. So basically it needed a Joan Ferguson character -
g-8211329 April 2020Most British dramas are deep and full of dark comedy. Compared with American dramas, British dramas are more subtle, and the emotional development of the plot can be implicit through all season without a kiss. Helen is very charming, Nikii has a little impulse in her personality and looks immature, a loving couple.
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jameskitchen_99921 August 2006I am a great fan of Bad Girls old and present and as many other fans was sad to see the end of Jim Fenner which was an excellent piece of writing but a TV drama cannot operate if an audience only watches for one character. I think that series 8 is going to be tough to wow fans specially without Fenner also they have gotten rid of excellent characters and story lines like what happens to Di Fenner. Also Kevin Spiers who looked set to take over the reigns from Fenner as G wings bent prison officer I think those story lines may have left other fans confused as in the Christmas episode there were no conclusions to these story lines. Series 8 I think has done well so far even without those story lines and characters with certain good story lines such as the Governor and her daughter and will hopefully go on for many years to come.
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parcdelagrange19 December 2021The series started well enough but as at series progressed the story lines began to get more incredulous and far fetched. Eight series was far too many and I for one was bored of it after 3 series.
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fairyfootsteps12329 November 2005I started watching this series at the beginning of the airing of series six. By the end of it, i had seen all the other episodes of all the other series. It is one of the best shows I have ever seen. It is addictive and you do get a genuine feel for the story lines - you cannot watch one episode without forming loads of opinions. People claim its unrealistic, it is not - as assured by the producers, everything in the show is possible in a real prison. Agreed, it may not happen to the same people, as in the series but give the show a break - its a TV series! It has to be exciting and it really really is. It is moving and the story lines are real and in most cases relevant to thew outside world as well, in my opinion. It is serious and can be upsetting but it is also one of the best acted and best written shows I've ever seen! I cannot wait for the next series!
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In 2022 it cant be tolerated. Some things age like fine wine. Some dont. This is the latter. Intolerable. First two episodes were enough to make up my mind.
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A Great UK TV drama about a women's prison..This drama touches on many female issues about sexuality, abuse, drugs and love. This show takes you onto a rollercoaster of highs and lows...There are characters you just love and some you love to hate! The lesbian story lines are strong and is a very positive look at lesbians and Bi-Sexuality. I am impressed by how the UK has surpassed the Canadian and US in what can be and not be shown on TV. Being a religious country I am happy that the production company has pushed the envelope to the front. This is a great TV Drama.
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moondancer30 August 2002This is a wonderful gritty, raunchy series set in a UK women's prison. The cast of cons and screws is a marvelous ensemble juggling a terrific blend of heartbreak, back-stabbing, infighting and deft comedic turns that will leave you drooling for the next episode. Sultry Scot Simone Lahbib (seasons 1 - 3) as Wing Governor Helen Stewart, and Jack Ellis as the scheming head screw Fenner,who never quite gets his comeuppance,are particular stand-outs.
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billyellyot13 November 2005I first started watching Bad Girls when i was 12, a little young perhaps, but i was hooked on it, and wanted to continue seeing it. That was when the 3rd series was drawing to a close in 2001, and ever since then, i have become an ardent fan. It has shocked me, made me laugh with some genuinely funny moments, and some very moving story lines. b Having also seen the first two series that made the show the huge hit it once was, i feel that it has lost its way over Series 5 and 6 (WHY did they do the Tanya Turner episodes??) However come 2005, and Series 7 hit our screens, and has shown us once again why Bad Girls won all its awards - it has returned to the dark, gritty roots and brought us a genuinely chilling and moving episode when 18 year old Laura Canning killed herself, action-packed drama where the amazing Pat Kerrigan (Liz May Brice) arrives. She is the best thing to have happened to the show since Eva Pope was brought in, and is also one of the sexiest women i have ever seen on TV! However ever since the introduction of Footballers Wives, people seem to think that this show is OTT camp like FW. Although FW is also a great show (it was set out to be OTT), it cannot compare with Bad Girls.
The writing, acting and direction of Bad Girls is almost always great, and i think Shed Productions should do more to improve it so it can win more awards again, as the current series has shown that there still is life in it, and that although it is made by the same people that made FW, its a very different show. -
basford9 January 2006I started watching Bad Girls at the end of series 6 when it was aired because I'd heard about this great character Jim fenner. At the end of that series, he was sent to prison and i was left in doubt about whether it was so great. However, when series seven was aired, i became hooked and was ecstatic that they brought Jim Fenner back. Once series seven was finished, i went about buying all the DVDs of the previous series. It is an absolutely fantastic show and has become my favourite program, closely followed by South Park and Eastenders. It shows us life in a prison drama with some over the top story lines. They have been very clever about it because it could easily be one the most depressing and dullest shows but they give us characters that we care about and story lines that have us gripped. I really loved the episode where Fenner murdered Yvone, it was so greatly written. I was fairly upset when they killed off Fenner but they brought his ghost back (in an inmate's mind) for an xmas special and it was brilliant. I cannot wait for series eight.
I recommend Bad girls to allsorts. It portrays cruelty and tenseness to the tenth power but it also shows light hearted humour which captures the viewers imagination.
Derek -
VANCELEE1 February 2003i have ever seen. the characters are so enthralling, you have no choice but to fall in love with them. you see their shortcomings, thats true, but moreso there always seem to be a story behind their faults.
its very very well acted, restores my faith in british television. the only bad thing is that i dread to see the day when i have seen the final third season finale. hope there will be a fourth and forever year. -
Stockard16 September 2003Bad Girls has always been brilliant. I have loved it from the first series, but then the fantastic Phyl and Bev (Stephanie Beacham and Amanda Barrie) known as The Costa Cons arrived and it got even better! These two are my absolute favourite characters ever, and i really hope they are both back for the next series. Their scenes with Officer Hollamby (Helen Fraser) had me in stitches.
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andrew_flay6 April 2018A great British television show right here, The show has it all, A great cast of actors, A lot of drama, Upsets and disturbing moments, Not to mention I think one of the greatest television bad guys ever Jim Fenner.
I'd say the first 6 seasons are good after that it dragged a bit, I may sound like a horrible person but when Jim went I was gutted #BringBackFenner. -
clairelouise-ridgway8 June 2003I like bad girls and its been going five years now and I still enjoy it even the fifth series with Stephanie beacham and amanda barrie as con artists are great, anyone who has not seen it yet will be in for a treat great British stuff. I hope they make a sixth series as its getting better everytime a series is made.
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This series is the best woman prison series ever. We get to see some of the open secrets (drug beeing brought in - screew's using convict's to their plessure) and something I never heard of: A wing Govenor falling in love with an innmate - which is the nain storyline.
The series is devided into one hour parts on three video-tapes. The first 1-4: Helen Stewart (the Wing Govenor) is introduced
along with some of the prisoners, and screew's.
Second 5-7: Nikki Wade (the convict)is as a difficult convict. But she in love with Helen and can change. And does when Helen treat her well.......
Third 8-10: The love Nikki feels for Helen grows............ and grows. What Helen feels for Nikki is once again showed the looks and the tone of her voice ........ The end of this series is filled with different questions....... The answers will come in series two or three.
I recomend everybody to see the video(s).
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Lex-2131 July 1999Bad Girls is surely the best drama series to come to ITV in years.
It is brilliant in all aspects, it can be sad, funny and enthralling all in one episode.
It is wonderfully acted and can draw you in without even trying.
Roll on the second series! -
stevemckay531 August 2006i started watching Bad Girls in 1999 when I was 8 lol. I can't remember watching the first episode but i can remember a few of the episodes. But I really got into it in 2000 and i've watched it ever since. I loved the Jim Fenner character, he was just a total evil, womanizing bastard he was great. It was a shame when he got killed off. I liked the Natalie Buxton character as well it's was a bit of a shame to see her being killed off also because now there isn't a 1# Villain in Bad Girls. I've watched pretty much every episode since 2000 apart from two (the one where Fenner murders Atkins and when Fenner gets killed) and a lot of people say that those two episodes are the best in the whole of Bad Girls.